On March 27, 1999, Yugoslav air defense forces shot down an American F-117 Nighthawk stealth aircraft. This is the first combat loss in history of an aircraft built using stealth technology.
At the time of the NATO invasion of Yugoslavia, local air defense had in its arsenal the S-75, S-125 “Neva” and “Kub” anti-aircraft systems. To counter this threat, NATO aircraft, as a rule, operated in conjunction with EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare aircraft. However, that day, due to bad weather conditions, the F-117 had to go on a mission without cover - the United States was confident that the aircraft, made using stealth technology, would be difficult to detect and shoot down.
Dale Zelko was at the controls of the single-seat aircraft. In the Belgrade area, he dropped two bombs, after which he headed for the base. It was on the way back that the American “hawk” was intercepted by the third battalion of the 250th Air Defense Brigade of the Yugoslav Army under the command of Colonel Zoltan Dani.
“It (F-117. -
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) was easy to hit. It was like combat work in accordance with the operating instructions on the Russian S-125 Neva anti-aircraft missile system. We saw it on the radar of the S-125 Neva missile system. Then, when he (F-117. -
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) entered the affected area, we turned on the guidance station of the missile system. We saw him like other targets. We didn't know it was invisible. The operator - the guidance officer said that he was in the affected area, I said: “Start”, he pressed the “Start” button - and the missiles flew,” Zoltan Dani said in an interview with RT.
The National Interest calls Dani a highly motivated commander who has previously studied NATO tactics to suppress air defense systems. To avoid being hit by NATO anti-radar missiles, his battalion regularly redeployed S-125 air defense systems, although these systems were not initially mobile. In addition, Dani actively used decoys under the guise of anti-aircraft systems and radars in order to divert enemy fire to them. Thanks to this tactic, Zoltan's unit did not lose a single air defense battery during the war, despite the 23 HARM missiles fired at it by NATO.
Zoltan Dani
AFP
© Andrej ISAKOVIC
The fact that it was Dani’s unit that managed to shoot down the F-117 is not an accident. The Serbs knew that NATO used repeated routes for combat aircraft flights. In addition, Yugoslav intelligence intercepted negotiations between NATO pilots and their base, which made it possible to more accurately determine the route of the aircraft. Zoltan Dani decided to take advantage of this enemy oversight and set up an ambush to intercept the F-117 as it returned to base in Italy.
Serbian air defense operators could only turn on their radars for 20 seconds - this was done so as not to be detected. At the moment when, according to Serbian calculations, the F-117 was supposed to be in the affected area, Dani’s unit turned on the radar twice, but to no avail. Then Dani took a risk and turned on the radar again. The third observation session was successful - the F-117 was detected.
The air defense battalion fired two missiles at it from the Soviet S-125 Neva complex, developed in the 1950s. One of the shells exploded near the aggressor’s plane, hitting it with a cloud of fragments. This happened approximately 13 km from the air defense battery and 40 km from Belgrade.
Pilot Dale Zelko managed to eject, and his stealth plane crashed near the village of Budzhanovtsy. Having landed, Zelko hid from the Serbs in a ditch, from where he was later evacuated by the Americans.
Serbs dance on the wing of a downed F-117
Legion-Media
© Dreamstime
The news of the destruction of the American stealth aircraft soon became known throughout the country and inspired the Serbs. On April 30, Dani managed to shoot down another F-117, but it, despite the damage, reached the base. On May 2, the battalion shot down an F-16, and a month later the active phase of the NATO invasion was completed.
The wreckage of the F-117 was later transferred to the aviation museum in Belgrade, and many small fragments were dismantled for souvenirs.
Design defects
Let us recall that the subsonic tactical attack aircraft F-117 Nighthawk was developed by Lockheed Martin. Its service with the US Air Force began in 1983. The Americans call it the first operational aircraft made using stealth technology. It was intended for covert penetration through enemy air defense systems and attacks on strategically important ground targets.
Wreckage of an F-117 in a museum
AP
© Darko Vojinovic
Over the years of operation, the attack aircraft managed to take part in the US aggression against Panama in 1989, the Gulf War of 1990-1991, a series of airstrikes against targets in Iraq in 1998, the attack on Yugoslavia in 1999 and the Iraq War of 2003.
A total of 64 F-117 units were produced. In addition to the car shot down by the Serbs, the Americans lost six more such aircraft as a result of accidents and breakdowns. Thus, F-117 losses reach approximately 10% of the total number of aircraft built.
The F-117's service in the US Air Force turned out to be relatively short - its phased decommissioning began in 2006 and ended in 2008, three years earlier than planned. It was replaced by the fifth generation fighter F-22.
As SOFREP notes, the first invisible gun had many shortcomings. In particular, the “revolutionary” design of the F-117 was its main weakness - the aerodynamics of the aircraft left much to be desired.
“The plane did not hold its position well along the roll, pitch and yaw axes. Among other structural design defects, it often suffered from problems with its wings. In addition, engineers had to refuse to equip the F-117 with advanced technologies, since it was necessary to limit the radar radiation of the aircraft,” the portal says.
In addition to this list of defects, the attack aircraft had a very meager set of weapons.
“This stealth aircraft can only be equipped with four bombs (total -
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) weighing no more than 5 thousand pounds (2.3 thousand kg -
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). And no guns,” writes SOFREP.
“It’s almost impossible to make someone invisible”
According to analysts, despite the innovative design of the F-117, which made it possible to reduce the radar signature of the aircraft, the Soviet P-18 radar was still able to see the target.
“Our old meter system saw a foreign object, a denser clump of reflection, moving at high speed. The air defense crew understood that it could only be an airplane. They launched missiles, one of which exploded near the F-117. The plane began to collapse, and the pilot was forced to eject,” said Vladimir Popov, Honored Pilot of the Russian Federation, in a commentary to RT.
ZRS S-125
Gettyimages.ru
© nedomacki
In turn, aviation historian Nikolai Bodrikhin noted that the S-125, despite its age, was still a very effective complex at that time.
“The S-125 Neva is a magnificent complex that was created by the great, I would even say, brilliant designer Alexander Raspletin. This person played a huge role in the development of our air defense systems,” the expert said in an interview with RT.
As analysts remind, the F-117 was widely advertised by the Americans. The aircraft was featured in several Hollywood films in the 1990s, and a video game was also dedicated to it in 1991. However, the defeat of the F-117 by the Serbs, in a sense, dispelled the myth of the stealth aircraft and demonstrated that the effectiveness of stealth technologies cannot be overestimated, experts say.
“Today it is almost impossible to make someone invisible. You can only reduce the area of reflection of radio-electronic rays or partially absorb them. There was a lot of advertising and marketing in the F-117 story. We, on the contrary, when we talk about our planes, note only their low reflectivity, we do not call them invisible. This is the difference in approaches,” says Vladimir Popov.
Aviation expert Eduard Bagdasaryan, general director of Aerocon JSC, shares a similar opinion.
“The defeat of the F-117 showed that this device, with all its high technologies, has limits, just like the stealth technology itself.” It's the same with today's American "Stealth" F-22 and F-35. They are also not invulnerable to air defense systems,” says the specialist.
According to Vladimir Popov, the F-117 design had many shortcomings.
“It didn’t conform to traditional concepts of air flow, so it had aerodynamic problems. From the point of view of planning and engine operation, it had a dubious design. It was actually a flying wing with a V-shaped tail, which is why the plane “obeyed” the pilot rather poorly. Its carrying capacity was also modest, so it carried a small number of weapons. As a result, it had quite serious restrictions on its use,” says the expert.
Eduard Baghdasaryan added that later American designers changed their approaches to stealth technologies and their latest “Stealth” F-22 and F-35 are closer in appearance to traditional aircraft.
“Operating experience with the F-117, including in Serbia, has shown that an aircraft of this type is of little use. Therefore, modern F-22 and F-35 are made more similar to the classic aircraft. And they performed better than the F-117,” the specialist concluded.