Foes Now Friends: US Stealth Pilot and the Serb Who Shot Him Down (excerpt) (Source: BBC News; published Nov. 6, 2012)
A former US Air Force pilot and the man who shot his stealth plane down during Nato's operation in Serbia have struck a remarkable friendship. The BBC's Guy Delauney went to meet them near Belgrade.
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The two men were on opposite sides in 1999, when Nato air strikes rocked Belgrade and other key targets. And they were the protagonists in one of the most remarkable incidents of Operation Allied Force.
Dale Zelko flew the F117 "stealth fighter" - a warplane so advanced that it was all but invisible to enemy radar.
But on the night of 27 March 1999 he was uncomfortable.
Weather conditions meant the stealth fighters would not have their usual escort of "Prowler" electronic jamming planes or F16s firing anti-radar missiles. "I'd never felt so strongly - if there was ever a night, a mission for an F117 to get shot down, it would be this one. I wasn't surprised when it happened," he says.
‘Nice shot’
Zoltan Dani had problems of his own. He commanded a unit which was low on resources and vulnerable to attack by the F16s. But his men were not short on morale or skill.
Each night he would move his unit from place to place - operating the equipment in 20-second bursts to avoid the attention of anti-radar missiles.
Citing Serbian electronics genius Nikola Tesla as an inspiration, Zoltan had the equipment modified so it would operate beyond the usual wavelengths.
Perhaps it was this which allowed him to detect Dale Zelko's stealth fighter.
"When it hit, it felt very, very good. Like scoring the winning goal in a football match," says Mr Dani. (end of excerpt)
Click here for the full story, on the BBC news website.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: It is noteworthy that F-117 pilot Dale Zelko felt his aircraft was vulnerable when it was not escorted by EA-6B Prowler or F-16G Wild Weasel electronic attack aircraft.
It is easy to conclude that it was these escorts, rather than its own “stealth” features, that protected the F-117 during its missions over Serbia.
It is worth keeping Zelko’s opinion in mind when discussing the claims made about the “stealth” capabilities of other US aircraft, and notably the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.) -ends-
http://www.defense-aerospace.com/articl ... _down.htmlDeixo aqui isto para refletirmos um pouco. Já desconfiava da eficiência da furtividade após este abate amplamente conhecido. O que desconhecia, até agora, eram alguns pormenores descritos aqui. No mínimo, bastante surpreendente.
Cump.
