1999 F-117A shootdown

1999 F-117A shootdown
Part of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
Ejection seat, wing and canopy of F-117 with serial number 82-0806 at the Belgrade Aviation Museum in late 2018.
TypeAircraft shootdown
Location
Near Buđanovci, Serbia, Yugoslavia

44°54′N 19°52′E / 44.900°N 19.867°E / 44.900; 19.867
TargetNATO warplanes
Date27 March 1999 (1999-03-27)
8:15 p.m.
Executed by250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, Army of Yugoslavia

On 27 March 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a Yugoslav Army unit shot down a Lockheed F-117 Nighthawk stealth ground attack aircraft of the United States Air Force by firing a S-125 Neva/Pechora surface-to-air missile. It was the first ever shootdown of a stealth technology airplane. The pilot ejected safely and was rescued by U.S. Air Force Pararescuemen conducting search and rescue.[1][2]

The F-117, which entered service with the U.S. Air Force in 1983, was cutting-edge equipment, and the first operational aircraft to be designed using stealth technology; by comparison, the Yugoslav air defenses were considered relatively obsolete.[3]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference Logan, Don 2009 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Robert F. Dorr (28 April 2015). "The Rescue of Vega 31; How special ops forces saved an F-117 pilot in Serbia". defensemedianetwork.com. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference usatoday was invoked but never defined (see the help page).