CROATIAN MIG-21 Fishbeds were used to launch air strikes on Serb targets in Western Slavonia on 1 and 2 May in the first combat engagement by the country's air force since early 1992.
One Fishbed was shot down by Serbian anti-aircraft defences during the raids, which were an attempt to bring down the key Bosanska Gradiska road bridge linking the Serb-occupied region of Croatia to Bosnian Serb territory. UN reports indicate that the bridge remains open
The attack was part of a successful action, to seize control of a 27km (17mile) stretch of the Zagreb-Belgrade highway, which passes through Western Slavonia.
Serbian forces retaliated with a series of rocket attacks against the Croatian capital Zagreb and the nearby joint civil and military Pleso Airport, home of the air force's MiG-21-equipped 1st Fighter Squadron. Diplomatic sources in Zagreb say that the attack was thought to come from M-87 Orkan 12-barrelled mobile rocket launchers, built in former Yugoslavia in collaboration with Iraq. The rockets appear to have carried cluster-bomb warheads.
Dubrovnik Airport came under Serb artillery fire on 1 May for the third time in a month, as part of a Serb campaign to disrupt Croatia's Adriatic holiday trade.
Source: Flight International