Delete comment from: Elements Of Power
USSHelm,
The Serbs got lucky that night. They fired on an unaware 4 ship flight of F-117's which were in the exfil stage of their mission.
The F-117 had no radar warning receiver capability and no warning of missile launch beyond the old Mk 1 eyeball.
The Serbs launched multiple missiles and 1x F-117 went down. The other 3 made it home, just fine. The "special device" often mentioned was never again able to achieve any sort of combat success, even against non-LO aircraft. "Special" indeed, or is that just the apt description for those who believe in such nonsense?
The Serbs were never again able to replicate this feat and neither has anyone else. As the good Sgt mentions, there is NO credible evidence that a 2nd F-117 was damaged by direct action from any Serbian unit and if that's the basis of some kind of claim that "stealth" isn't worth it, then it's hardly surprising that every country that can afford to do so, is racing to get as much "stealth" into their respective forces as they can...
"Stealth" doesn't protect entirely against an enormous quantity of lead thrown into the air and it's conceivable that a similar isolated tactical success may be achieved at some point.
In the meantime, we'll see thousands more successful sorties flown and plenty more "IADS" annihilated before another such "success" occurs.
THAT's what history actually shows.
Aug 3, 2012, 9:26:10 AM
Posted to Et Tu 'Flight Journal'?