Kosovo Post Scriptum: Allied Losses
38 fixed wing aircraft, 6 helicopters, 7 unmanned aircraft, one F-15 Eagle, "many" cruise missiles lost to anti-aircraft artillery or surface-to-air missiles, 3 F-117A Stealth strike craft, one shot down by a Yugoslav MiG-29 and one other by A.A.A. or S.A.M. fire, along with the cherished mystique of one of the U.S.'s "miracle weapons". The incident involving S.A.M. fire reveals allied over-confidence; the aircraft presents a radar signature similar to that of a crow. If flight plans are not varied radar operators are bound to notice a consistently supersonic crow at the same time in the same place every day and correlate it with ground observations of jet exhausts, as happened in this case. At least one African-American pilot and one Luftwaffe Tornado crew are being held as P.O.W.s. Cruise missiles lost to ground fire or malfunction have been retrieved by the Serbs and Yugoslav engineers now claim to be able to significantly reproduce the technology.
Despite the assertion that no ground campaign was being conducted, significant ground losses were incurred by N.A.T.O. during their ill-advised balkan adventure. It is known that 20 special forces, consisting of 12 green berets and 8 S.A.S. personnel were ambushed and killed south of Pristina by Yugoslav forces. A further 30 bodies of allied servicemen are known to have been retrieved from within Kosovo and processed through Athens. At least 2 of the helicopters downed by the Yugoslavs were carrying troops, amounting to a loss of 50 men.
At least a lot of N.A.T.O.s non-y2k-compliant ordnance was dumped on a convenient pariah state though. The effects of depleted Uranium used to tip armour piercing shells instead of the more expensive titanium formerly used has yet to be seen, but if the experience of the population of Iraq and the veterans of the Gulf War are taken to be indicative, they may be dire indeed.
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