Operation Allied Force 1999

NATO's airpower victory in Kosovo

Dr Brian D. Laslie, Adam Tooby

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English

Osprey
01 October 2024

History; Postwar 20th century history, from c 1945 to c 2000; Military history; Air forces & warfare; Battles & campaigns

Series: Air Campaign

A focused, illustrated history of NATO's war against Serbian forces over Kosovo. [THE CORRECT VERSION OF THIS EBOOK IS NOW AVAILABLE TO DOWNLOAD.]

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.

By: Dr Brian D. Laslie
Illustrated by: Adam Tooby
Imprint: Osprey
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Volume: 45
Dimensions: Height: 248mm, Width: 184mm, Spine: 25mm
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781472860309
ISBN 10: 1472860306
Series: Air Campaign
Pages: 96
Publication Date: 01 October 2024
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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

Dr Brian D. Laslie is Command Historian at the US Air Force Academy in Colorado. A 2001 graduate and an historian of air and space power studies, Dr Laslie received his PhD in 2013. He is the author of various books including The Air Force Way of War: U.S. Tactics and Training after Vietnam, Architect of Air Power: General Laurence S. Kuter and the Birth of the U.S. Air Force and Air Power’s Lost Cause: The American Air Wars of Vietnam. He lives in Colorado Springs.