1999 F-117A shootdown | |
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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. | |
Type | Aircraft shootdown |
Location | 44°54′N 19°52′E / 44.900°N 19.867°E |
Target | NATO warplanes |
Date | 27 March 1999 8:15 p.m. |
Executed by | 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, Army of Yugoslavia |
On 27 March 1999, during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, a Yugoslav Army unit (the 3rd Battalion of the 250th Air Defense Missile Brigade, which was under the leadership of Lt. Colonel Zoltán Dani) shot down an F-117 Nighthawk stealth 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]
Logan, Don 2009
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