"Chad Irby" wrote:

Consider the old-tech F-117. They fly it through some of the most
heavily-defended airspaces, *ever*, and manage to not get shot down
(except for one case when they got nailed in a low-level raid by
visually-sighted AAA). And it's practically obsolete, in most "stealth"
respects. The F-22 may have a couple of weaknesses (the aforementioned
intake and exhaust), but even those are relative.


The F-117, serial 82-806, was not flying a low-level mission. It was on
egress from Serbia when it was shot down. The claim of the F-117 goes to the
3rd Division of the 250th Rocket Brigade and its SA-3 Goa missiles. The
250th Rocket Brigade AD received the National Hero Medal, the highest
military medal for their service during the war. Here are some of the
interesting parts of the "For Free Sky" documentary that was shown on
Serbian TV to mark the first anniversary of the conflict during 2000. These
are the interviews given by the Air Force staff for the occasion coupled
with some information given by the commander of the 250th AD brigade that
operated the Neva-M system (SA-3). Apparently all the SA-3 missiles had
girls names stenciled on them! Tanja, Ivana and Natalija have been
identified as fired missiles.

During 2001 a further interview with a 250th Rocket Brigade battalion
commander, Lt. Col. Bosko Dotlic, highlighted that an SA-3 named Natalija
downed the F-117.

From the 2000 documentary "For Free Sky" Colonel Zoltan Dani explained:

"When whole crew were on their positions and when the new wave was on, the
target was detected on azimuth 195 suddenly appearing and that was an very
important reference upon which we concluded that it may be a new target.
Crew done the rest routinely, since we are well trained. The speed was that
counts. Practically the F-117 was downed in less than 18 seconds"

Dragan Matich (standing in front of Neva missiles):

"In the war I have been tracking officer on 4 missile launches among them
the biggest success was the downing of the F-117 and F-16"

Further evidence is on display at the Yugoslav Aeronautical Museum, Belgrade
International Airport where the remnants of the SA-3 missile and missile
booster used to shoot down the F-117A can be found.

Serbian TV video of 82-806 shows the tell tale fragmentation damage to the
wings and tail that comes from SAM warhead damage. This was initially
commented on as being from AAA damage, but the fragmentation warhead
consists of tungsten balls which would cause similar damage as indicated on
the video. There is not one mention from any of the interviews or 250th
Rocket Brigade commemorative websites of anything other than an SA-3 being
responsible. The only unit accredited was the 250th Rocket Brigade for both
the USAF F-16CG lost on the 2nd May and the F-117A.


TJ