Full Description
A focused, illustrated history of NATO's war against Serbian forces over Kosovo. [THE CORRECT VERSION OF THIS EBOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD.]
On the night of March 24, 1999, NATO forces began military action to stop Serbia's campaign of repression during the Kosovo War. Initially planned to be a 72-hour operation, it took 78 days of sustained air warfare for Operation Allied Force to cause Slobodan Milosevic to withdraw his forces. Despite such setbacks as the loss of an F-117 stealth fighter and the bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade, Allied Force ended with perhaps the most complete airpower victory of modern times.
However, there is a dearth of written histories on NATO's air war over Kosovo. In this book Dr Brian D. Laslie, one of the leading scholars of modern air power operations, offers a complete history of the campaign, based on a wide range of primary and secondary sources. Although predominantly a USAF effort, the campaign also featured multinational contributions as well as significant naval aviation.
Using spectacular original battlescenes, maps and 3D diagrams, Dr Laslie examines the aircraft, weapons and doctrine used, the Serbian air defenses, how the Allied forces planned and launched their air campaign, and how NATO had to rapidly adapt its initial plans to achieve success.
Contents
Introduction
The Balkan conflicts of the 1990s
Chronology
Attacker's Capabilities
NATO's air power on display
Chain of command
NATO's massive air arm
Naval forces
"Boots on the ground"
Defender's Capabilities
A capable threat
Serbian air defense
Camouflage and concealment
On the eve of battle
Campaign Objectives
NATO's goals
Planning begins
The CAOC
The Campaign
Three nights begin the campaign
SEAD campaign
Ethnic cleansing increases
The air war drags on, but the weather improves
May: NATO escalation
Milosevic concedes
Pristina airport incident
Statistics
Human rights aftermath
Aftermath and Analysis
Further Reading
Index
