The 1999 F-117A shootdown was an incident that took place on 27 March
1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia,, when an Army of Yugoslavia
unit used a S-125 Neva/Pechora to down a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth
aircraft of the United States Air Force. The pilot ejected and was rescued by
search and rescue forces. The US Air Force F-117A was developed in
the 1970s, entering service in 1983 and officially revealed in 1988. It saw its
first combat in 1989 over Panama, and was widely seen as one of the most
advanced pieces of US military equipment. At the same time, Yugoslavian
air defenses were seen as relatively obsolete.
Downing Unknown to NATO, Yugoslav air defenses
operators had found they could detect F-117s with their obsolete Soviet radars
after some modifications. In 2005, Colonel Zoltán Dani confirmed this in an
interview, suggesting that those modifications involved using long
wavelengths, which allowed them to detect the aircraft when the wheel well
or bomb bay doors were open. In addition, the Serbs had also intercepted
and deciphered some NATO communications, and thus were able to deploy their
anti-air batteries at positions best suited to intercept NATO planes.
On March 27, 1999, the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade of
the Army of Yugoslavia, under the command of Colonel Dani, downed F-117
Air Force serial number 82-0806, callsign "Vega 31".
The Army of Yugoslavia unit was equipped with a Yugoslav version of the Soviet
Isayev S-125 "Neva" missile system. At about 8:15 pm local time, with a
range of about 8 miles several missiles were launched. According to Sergeant
Dragan Matić, who was identified in 2009 as the soldier who fired the missiles,
they detected the F-117 at a range of about 50 to 60 kilometres, operating
their equipment for no more than 17 seconds to avoid being locked on to by
NATO anti-air suppression. According to Dani in a 2007 interview, his troops
spotted the aircraft on radar when its bomb-bay doors opened, raising its radar
signature. The F-117, callsign "Vega-31", was being
flown by Lt. Col. Dale Zelko, an Operation Desert Storm veteran. He
observed the two missiles punch through the low cloud cover and head straight
for his aircraft. The first passed over him, close enough to cause buffeting,
but did not detonate. However, the second missile did detonate, causing
significant damage to the aircraft and causing it to tumble, out of control.
The explosion was large enough to be seen from a KC-135 Stratotanker, flying
over Bosnia. Zelko was subject to intense g-forces as
the aircraft tumbled and had great difficulty in assuming the correct
posture for ejecting. After his parachute deployed, he used his survival
radio to issue a mayday call and was able to contact the KC-135 that had seen
him shot down. Zelko used his survival radio while still descending although
this was contrary to his training. He reasoned the altitude would give his
signal the best possible range and was also sure he would be quickly captured
by Serbian forces on the ground and wanted to confirm he was unhurt before
this happened. Zelko landed in a field south of Ruma
and around a mile south of a four-lane highway. He quickly concealed himself in
a drainage ditch that he had identified as a hold-up site while still
descending. There, he felt the shock waves of American bombs dropped by B-2
bombers on targets on the outskirts of Belgrade. He remained undetected, even
though he had landed around a mile from his aircraft's crash site, and an
intensive search of the area was carried out by the Serbian army, police and
local villagers. He was rescued by a U.S. Air Force combat search and rescue
team flying a Sikorsky MH-53 helicopter in the early hours of the next morning.
He was initially misidentified in press reports as the name "Capt Ken 'Wiz'
Dwelle" was painted on the aircraft's canopy. The lost F-117 carried the name
"Something Wicked" and had previously flown 39 sorties during Operation Desert
Storm. Some American sources claim that a
second F-117A was damaged during the same campaign, allegedly on 30 April;
the aircraft returned to base, but it supposedly never flew again. The 250th
Air Defense Missile Brigade also shot down a USAF F-16 fighter on May 2, 1999,
however these were the only two successes out of the dozens of
ground–to–air missiles fired during the conflict.
Aftermath Photographs show that the aircraft
struck the ground at low speed in an inverted position, and that the airframe
remained relatively intact. Some pieces of the F-117's wreckage are preserved at
the Serbian Museum of Aviation in Belgrade, other pieces of wreckage were
reportedly sent to Russia and China, to be used in developing anti-stealth
technology. The USAF retired the F-117 in 2008.
Zoltán Dani, now running a bakery, and Dale Zelko, now retired from the US Air
Force, have met and developed a friendship in recent years.
Notes References
External links Vega 31: The Loss of #806
Russians admit testing F-117 lost in Yugoslavia, 2001 Flight Global article