Howard Gethin/RAF MILDENHALL
NATO has sharply stepped up its air campaign against Yugoslavia, with over 80 separate targets attacked in the four days from 3 April, of 190 made since the outbreak of hostilities. NATO aircraft flew 438 sorties against 28 targets on 5 April alone. "We've increased the pace because of good weather," NATO says.
The scale of the effort was evident in a 7h flight refuelling mission Flight International joined on the night of 8 April, in support of two US Air Force Boeing E-3 Sentrys and a McDonnell Douglas KC-10. "We've been hard at it since this thing started. We were out yesterday, and we are back out tomorrow," a KC-135 pilot said.
The effects of long hours on aircrews and aircraft were evident. "This pilot is probably just tired at the end of a long mission," said the KC-135's boom operator, following the third break in the hook-up by the first E-3. Tanking was made more difficult by turbulence and lightning during the 20min transfer of fuel, which was conducted in a 20¼ bank turn - all flown manually, as the KC-135's autopilot had become unserviceable.
Early last week, about a dozen additional USAF F-117 Nighthawk stealth fighters were deployed to Germany from the USA to reinforce the aircraft's presence already in Italy.
Other forces en route to bolster the mounting air effort are Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters and a Multiple Launch Rocket System.
A blow to NATO's reconnaissance strategy came with the loss on 7 April of a US Army Hunter unmanned air vehicle, to unknown causes, over Kosovo. The vehicle was one of only seven in the US Army's inventory.
Source: Flight International
