Serb innovation downed US Stealth fighter

Published: Oct 27, 2005
Source: english.aljazeera.net



Col. Zoltan Dani was behind one of the most spectacular losses ever suffered by the US Air Force: the 1999 shooting down of a F-117A stealth fighter.

Now, the former Serbian commander of an anti-aircraft missile battery has spoken to Western media for the first time about the circumstances surrounding the unprecedented downing of a US stealth plane.

The 27 March 1999 hit on the radar-evading plane during the 78-day NATO campaign over Serbia, triggered doubts not only about the F-117s, but also about the entire concept of stealth technology on which the US Air Force has based its newest generation of warplanes.

Military analysts debated how the planes would fare in a war against a militarily sophisticated opponent if an obsolescent air defence such as Serbia's could manage to track and destroy them.continue..