Serbian commander used ‘innovation’ to down stealth fighter

COLONEL Zoltan Dani was behind one of the most spectacular losses ever suffered by the US Air Force: the 1999 shooting down of an F-117A stealth fighter.

This week, for the first time, the former Serbian commander of an anti-aircraft missile battery has consented to speak publicly to Western media about the circumstances surrounding the unprecedented downing of a US stealth plane.

The March 27 hit during the 78-day NATO campaign over Serbia triggered doubts not only about the F-117s, but about the entire concept of stealth technology on which the US Air Force has based its newest generation of warplanes.

Dani said the F-117 was detected and shot down during a moonless night by a Soviet-made SA-3 Goa surface-to-air missile.

“We used a little innovation to update our 1960s-vintage SAMs to detect the Nighthawk,” Dani said. He said the exact nature of the modification remains a military secret.

That it involved “electromagnetic waves,” was all Dani - who now owns a bakery - would divulge.

The F-117 was developed in great secrecy in the 1970s. It entered service in 1983 but was not revealed officially until 1988.

“Long before the 1999 war, I took keen interest in the stealth fighter and on how it could be detected. And I concluded that there are no invisible aircraft, but only less visible.”

The F-117 was one of only two allied aircraft shot down in the war. The other was an F-16 fighter. Both pilots bailed out and were rescued by NATO. Dani said his anti-aircraft missile regiment downed the F-16.

“The Americans entered the war a bit overconfident. They thought they could crush us without real resistance,” he said. “At times, they acted like amateurs. I personally listened to their pilots’ conversations, learning about their routes and bombing plans.”

Dani said his unit has annual reunions on March 27 when a cake in the shape of the F-117 is served.