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US

Pentagon: All NATO planes safe as second day of strikes ends


In this story:

Second mission for B-2 stealth bombers

Finding and hitting the targets

Reaching the 'tank-busting phase'

Search teams at the ready

RELATED STORIES, SITES icon



March 26, 1999
Web posted at: 9:49 a.m. EST (1449 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- NATO geared up for a third day of strikes against Yugoslavia after warplanes pounded the Balkan country with bombs and missiles for the second day in a row, CNN learned late Thursday.

Pentagon officials said that, contrary to some news reports, "all NATO planes are accounted for" and none was downed by Yugoslavian forces.

The official Yugoslav news agency Tanjug had reported three NATO warplanes were shot down Thursday by Serb forces.

Those reports said that two planes were shot down north of the capital city of Belgrade and a third over Kosovo.

NATO warplanes took to the air for the second straight day Thursday to deliver a punishing message to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic that he must end his repression of Kosovo, Pentagon officials said.

The NATO supreme allied commander was even more direct about the objectives of Operation Allied Force.

"We are going to systematically and progressively attack, disrupt, degrade, devastate and ultimately -- unless President Milosevic complies with the international community -- we are going to destroy those forces and their facilities and support," Gen. Wesley Clark said.

Second mission for B-2 stealth bombers

Thursday's attacks were primarily carried out by aircraft, including U.S. F-117A stealth fighters and B-2 bombers, according to an unidentified Pentagon source.

In the Adriatic Sea, at least 20 Tomahawk cruise missiles were fired from the USS Gonzalez and three from the USS Philippine Sea, CNN Correspondent Martin Savidge said from aboard the Philippine Sea.

 VIEW FROM A WARSHIP

In the first days of the NATO airstrikes, Correspondent Martin Savidge was aboard the USS Philippine Sea.

The guided missile cruiser is one of the U.S. Navy warships in the Adriatic Sea firing Tomahawk cruise missiles at military targets in Yugoslavia.

Watch and listen to his reports.

The cruise missiles were sent in ahead of land-based attack aircraft. About 60 jets left from Aviano Air Base in Italy and many began returning about four hours after their launch.

"What's coming next will be more of the same," promised U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen.

"It will be another substantive strike. It will be severe," Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said.

Weather was not a terribly significant factor in the military operation, Bacon said, but the weather looked "pretty good tonight."

Finding and hitting the targets

"We will continue to focus on a variety of targets, but principally on air defense targets and also on military targets in and around Kosovo, the types of assets that the Yugoslavs are using against the Kosovar Albanian people," Bacon said.

High on the list of initial targets are the Serbs' estimated 60 batteries of highly mobile SAM-6 surface-to-air missiles.

Bacon was asked whether the Serbs were taking steps to protect those and whether that made it difficult for NATO to locate targets.

"I think it is fair to say that things were in their expected position -- which was moved," Bacon said. "They have been moving their military assets, including tanks and artillery -- and other things. Dispersion is a standard defensive tactic, and the Serbs are very good at dispersion."

He said that is why it will not be easy for NATO to suppress the Serb air defense system.

"Sophisticated systems such as the SAM-6 missile can be moved very easily. The Iraqis do that, and the Serbs do it as well," Bacon said.

However, Bacon said, the Serbs are using another Iraqi military strategy, but not to a "huge extent" -- that of moving endangered weapons into urban areas that NATO might hesitate to hit.

More than 230 combat-ready Serb air force planes, including about 75 Russian-built MiG jet fighters, are also targets for NATO planes.

NATO warplanes shot down three MiGs Wednesday, Clark said, Pentagon sources said NATO forces faced no challenges from Yugoslav military aircraft Thursday.

Reaching the 'tank-busting phase'

Serbian tank
The Serb army has a backbone of about 1,300 tanks  

Bacon said 20 percent of the allied targets were VJ -- Yugoslav army targets -- or MUP -- ministerial special police targets.

"These are the forces that are being used to attack the Kosovar Albanians in Kosovo, and we will continue to focus on those targets," Bacon said.

"They have fewer assets today than they had yesterday, yes. But I would be misleading you if I told you that they are not yet, that they are at a point where they can't continue their aggression or repression of the Kosovar Albanians," said Bacon.

"We have not degraded it to that point. But we're only in the second day," Bacon added.

Other sources within the Pentagon concede the NATO strikes have not sufficiently softened the Serbian air defense systems in order for NATO forces to begin what one official called the "tank-busting" phase.

But other military analysts said it will probably require NATO ground troops to get the job done.

"I don't believe you can destroy the Yugoslav army -- and by that word I suppose we're talking about fully half of it and its equipment being incapacitated -- without ground forces," said Michael O'Hanlan of the Brookings Institute.

Bacon repeatedly said he could not be more specific about targets in an ongoing strike. And he said the scorecard on the first day of the military operation would take some time.

Battle damage assessment is a very complex process and "involves more than just looking at pictures on CNN," Bacon said at the afternoon briefing.

Search teams at the ready

Clark's announcement that three Yugoslav fighter jets had been shot down during the first day of Operation Allied Force drew questions from reporters Thursday about what would happen to U.S. pilots if they were shot down and fell into Serb hands.

"Any NATO personnel that were shot down and captured by Yugoslav forces would be entitled to all the protections offered by the Geneva Convention," Bacon said. "And they would be covered by the provisions that apply to prisoners of war, that govern the treatment of prisoners of war."

But he said the Pentagon would try to prevent any pilot from being captured.

"We have very robust, well-trained combat search and rescue teams available to search for them," Bacon said.

Defense Secretary Cohen said the risk of U.S. fatalities was weighed against national interest in the stability of Europe.

"Anytime we have to send our men and women into battle and put them in harm's way, it's always a difficult decision," Cohen said on CNN's "Larry King Live."

In the wake of the NATO strikes, steps have also been taken to ensure the safety of U.S. personnel serving in the peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bacon said during Thursday's Pentagon briefing.

"Force protection is the job of unit commanders in Bosnia and elsewhere, and they have the authority to take steps that they think are appropriate to match the threat they face," Bacon said.

He also said every soldier undergoes force protection training before being deployed to Bosnia.

"It's something that's on their mind every minute of the day when they're on duty and frequently when they're off duty as well," Bacon said.

Correspondents Gene Randalll, Jamie McIntyre, Martin Savidge and National Security Producer Chris Plante contributed to this report.


RELATED STORIES:
U.S. military 'satisfied' with airstrikes
March 25, 1999
U.S. defense secretary: No indication of NATO casualties
March 24, 1999
KLA goes from splinter group to potential giant-killer
March 24, 1999
Operation Allied Force: Latest developments
March 24, 1999
Annan: U.N. should have been consulted
March 24, 1999

RELATED SITES:
NATO Official Homepage
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting (IWPR)
US Department of Defense
Kosovo - Information Agency
Kosova Crisis Center
Kosova Liberation Peace Movement
www.kosovo.com
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