Operation Allied Force 1999

AIR CAMPAIGN Series, book Νο 45: Operation Allied Force 1999 - NATO's airpower victory in Kosovo

A focused, illustrated history of NATO's war against Serbian forces over Kosovo.

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

Author: Brian D. Laslie

Illustrator: Adam Tooby

Publisher: Osprey Publishing

Description: 96 pages, Paperback, 247 X 184 mm.

Condition: NEW COPY

Shipping weight: 470 gr.