Osprey Combat Aircraft 24 : Conflict in the Balkans 1991-2000

In the years since the break up of the old Yugoslavia in June 1991, air power has played a significant part in every major military operation in the Balkans. NATO and UN air power has been used in every conceivable type of operation, ranging from strategic bombing by B-2 stealth bombers to air-to-air combat, moving ground troops by helicopter, to 'food-bombing' for refugees trapped in Bosnian enclaves. Local pilots have been equally active flying bombing missions, re-supplying beleaguered outposts and even shooting down UAVs with machine gun fire from helicopters. In the months after the end of Operation Allied Force, air power practitioners and analysts have been dissecting the conduct and outcome of the Kosovan War, the largest military offensive in Europe since World War 2. There is still little agreement about the amount of damage inflicted on the Yugoslav 3rd Army inside Kosovo. While individual pilots and aircrew have shown great bravery and ingenuity over the past decade, the Balkans continue to be a venue of conflict and ethnic hatred. There is little sign that the fires of conflict have been extinguished in 'Europe's Vietnam'. Text by Tim Ripply with illustrations by Mark Rolfe.

Contents

• 1991 Yugoslavia at War
• Slovenia
• Croatia
• 1992 Bosnian War
• Western Intervention
• 1993 Srebrenica
• 1994 Shoot Down
• Gorazde
• Udbina
• 1995 Hostage Crisis
• Enter Holbrooke
• Sarajevo
• 1996 Operation Deliberate Force
• 1997 Albania Rescue
• 1998 Crisis over Kosovo
• Helping the Refugees
• Enter the Apaches
• Target Belgrade
• Harriers at War
• Rescue Mission
• Into Kosovo
• Allied Operations