Because one consists of primarily democratic nations who have some degree of openess while the other one was a nationalistic dictatorship that supported the deaths of tens of thousands and is responsible for about a quarter of a million dead in 4 conflicts.

NATO and the USA are not saints but they are a helluva lot more open than Serbia was at the time.

You’re not a speechwriter for the State Department ?……you’re showing great potential

Nothing is harder to digest than an obvious defeat due to own (political) stupidity. The person mainly responsible is dead, not a big loss for civilized Europe, hopefully this attitude dies out pretty soon, too.

How exactly was this war, suppose to have been avoided???….by giving up without a fight?……it might be beyond your comprehension, but it’s pretty obvious that the seed of the next war has already been planted and is being watered as we speak.

If I park my tank under a tree and turn-off the engine, there is simply no way in detecting it. This tank adds no additional capability to my army. When I turn on the engine, I am detectable.

About 1/2 of the MBTs lost were as a result of ground fighting (AT mines mainly)….the accuracy of air attack on detected and moving targets is not always as good as you’d like to imagine….seen it with my own eyes.

War is about competing resources. In this respect with Yoguslavia economically as powerful as Delaware there was little point in fighting it out. Unfortunately Mister Milosevic didn’t attend the lesson about basic principles of war fighting. His people had to pay it, in cash, assets and lifes. I’ll hope they know who to thank.

Meaningless BS from the perspective of the victim of aggression….when you’re attacked in your own country, you do what you can with what you’ve got available.

The only millitary aspect that matters is the outcome.

Couldn’t agree more……but it doesn’t mean you don’t analyse how and why you arrived at the outcome.

Jesus guys, this thread has turned into a war zone.

The F-117 was shot down by a Neva (SA-3). Serbia only had 1 x squadron of early model Mig-29s which were not even fully operable (some of the sensors did not work) and as far as I’m aware they didn’t shoot down any aircraft….they only flew in the first few days of the conflict. Several were shot down (1 x by friendly fire) and a couple were destroyed on the ground.

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And lets not forget that tactically the NATO air campaign was not exactly a shining success. The planed stages of escalation were thrown into shambles, because the assigned goals could not be met from the previous stage. You guys are used to fighting video game wars were there is no danger to your side.

The serbian airforce even managed to fly ground attack missions for christs sake (about 40-50 sorties using J-22 and G-4 light ground support aircraft)
right under your noses.

They flew at extremely low altitudes, total radio silence, using the cover of mountains and hills to evade AWACS detection. They also had inteligence on the AWACS flight plans and schedules.These raids were only stopped when the airstrips were finaly put out of action towards the end of the conflict.

I haven’t heard anyone mention the deployment of the 252. Armoured Brigade to Kosovo in conditions of TOTAL enemy air supperiority without loosing a single vehicle (we’re talking about 300 + vehicles). This is the biggest such operation since WWII conducted in so unfavourable conditions.

The whole unit was loaded up on several large train compositions and was transported from Kraljevo to Kosovo in 3 days. They only travelled at night and stayed in tunnels during the day…no lights and no signals were used. They even managed to cross the bridges on the Ibar gorge without loss.

About a week after arriving in Kosovo, Nato bombed the bridges in the gorge and dropped leaflets threatening members of the 252 BATTALION (not realising that the whole brigade had been deployed) with destruction…….the Brigade still exists today

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For all the Nato cheerleaders here, I would love to see how your armies would perform
in such circumstances.

The only reason the Serbs withdraw from Kosovo is because there was simply no way possible to protect the countries infrastructure…..not because Nato managed to defeat the army.

2. You’re arguing that a Harrier was lost during a training sortie? Are you aware that even in a combat environment US aircrew will still fly training sorties? You highlighted the bit denoting the sortie was a training mission, so I figured I’d better bring that up to enlighten you as to how it works in the real world.

You’re reaching. Clearly.

Not really. Have you ever been around an operational forward-deployed USAF unit during a war? No? Then how can you be expected to reasonably comment about a topic in which you maintain ignorance? Aircrews have to fly a set number of hours per term to maintain currency. There’s also a reasonable expectation that they get familiarization flights in and around the combat theater. Most of these guys had forgotten about Europe and were thinking about fighting in a big sandbox, remember.

I just noticed the above

Just for the record….No I haven’t been “around an operational forward-deployed USAF unit during a war” (I’m not a pilot or air crew), but I’ve fired “a few angry shots” in my time back there

You can believe whatever you like…I’m just pointing out questionable explanations.

Serbian air defense officials said they shot down the F-16, but NATO military spokesman Col. Konrad Freytag said the jet crashed after experiencing engine failure. He said the cause of the engine failure was unknown.

The above “explanation” is a proven lie.

And so is this:

But according to you, every Nato statement is unquestionable dogma that I have no right to doubt?

You guys are getting just a bit carried away and I mean debaters from both camps.

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*There are 2 verifed shot down aircraft. 1 x F-117 and 1 X F-16

*Several more (no one knows exactly how many) were damaged.

*The Serbs during the conflict made exagerated claims…so did Nato!

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Nobody from Serbia made an official claim of “hundreds” of shot down aircraft.
What you’re reffering to is media hysteria and propaganda.

At the end of the war (1999), the commander of the PVO said that 60 + aircraft have been shot down.

Last year (2005) there was a official revision made and the number has been reduced to 38 aircraft that have been HIT by a SAM (a SAM connecting with a target on the radar screen)….* not shot down *.

The number has been reduced to 38, after a revision of the data and some of the targets hit are believed to have been decoys. There is independent evidence of at least some Nato aircraft making emergency landings in neighbouring states

On 04-04-99 a “USAF 31st FW F-16C made emergency diversion to Sarajevo Airport Bosnia-Herzegovina.” (source: Air Forces Monthly, June 1999, p. 92)

On 04-19-99 a Danish AF F-16 “made emergency diversion to Sarajevo Airport, Bosnia-Herzegovina, due to a serious engine problem in the early hours of the morning while flying a combat air patrol mission to protect NATO SFOR troops in Bosnia.” (source: Air Forces Monthly, June 1999, p. 93)

On 04-25-99 a USAF F-15 fighter jet “made emergency landing at Sarajevo Airport, escorted by another F-15, due to a faulty hydraulic pump.” (source: Air Forces Monthly, June 1999, p. 93)

April 21 An F-117A 86-0837/’OT’ of the USAF 422nd TES “suffered extensive damage in an unspecified landing accident, details unconfirmed, but reported as a Class A accident.” (source: Air Forces Monthly, August 1999, p. 74)

An F-117A of the 49th FW was damaged during strike mission by a nearby explosion of an SA-3 SAM, “…causing loss of part of the tail section, but the aircraft was able to return safely to Spangdahlem air base, Germany.” (source: Air Force Monthly, July 1999, p. 75)

On 04-16-99 a USAF 52nd FW/ 81st FS A-10A 81-0984/’SP’ “suffered oil pressure failure and diverted to Petrovac Airport, Skopje, Macedonia, for an emergency landing.” (source: Air Forces Monthly, June 1999, p. 93)

Now for the sake of argument, it’s more than likely that some of the damaged aircraft did crash on the way back to base.