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NATO investigating crash of U.S. warplane in Yugoslavia

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March 28, 1999
Web posted at: 3:32 p.m. EST (2032 GMT)

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BRUSSELS, Belgium (CNN) -- NATO officials said Sunday that they were still investigating whether the U.S. stealth F-117A jet fighter that crashed in Yugoslavia was shot down by Serb forces or if it suffered a mechanical failure.

The plane went down Saturday night in Budjanovci, about 30 miles (45 km) west of Belgrade.

The pilot was rescued hours later by a NATO search and rescue team and whisked back to Aviano Air Base, where he received medical attention, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea said.

The Serb military reported that one of its missiles shot down the F-117A Nighthawk. Serb television broadcast video of the twisted, burning wreckage of the plane for several hours before NATO confirmed it had crashed.

International journalists bused to the crash site by the Yugoslav army on Sunday reported seeing bullet holes in the plane's wing.

But retired U.S. Air Force Lt. Gen. Tom McInerny told CNN that the compact wreckage suggested the plane had not been shot down.

"If the airplane had been shot down, it normally would have been spread over a wide area and this airplane was not," McInerny said. "It didn't go straight into the ground, it went in flat, and that's not the characteristic of a plane that had been shot down."

The crash was the alliance's first loss in its five-day-old air campaign against Yugoslavia, according to NATO officials, who deny reports by Serb officials that its military has shot down eight NATO planes.

The U.S.-made F-117A, easily recognized by its triangular shape and flat contours, features stealth technology that sharply reduces its visibility to radar. But U.S. defense officials stressed the plane is not invincible and could be targeted by Yugoslavia's air defenses.

The Pentagon refused to provide details of the pilot rescue mission, which was led by special joint U.S. military forces.

"There may be times when we have to rescue pilots and the less said the better for the safety of the pilots," said Pentagon spokesman Kenneth Bacon.

The pilot, who was not publicly identified, was reported in "good condition" and "was relieved to be out of Yugoslavia and back at base," Bacon said.

NATO and U.S. officials said the downing of the stealth fighter would not affect plans to increase attacks on Yugoslav army units and Serb police in Kosovo.

"As I've said from the outset, this military operation entails real risks," U.S. President Bill Clinton said in a statement late Saturday. "However, the continued brutality and repression of the Serbian forces further underscores the necessity for NATO forces to persevere. Our NATO operation will go forward as planned."

The F-117A has never before gone down in combat, although it flew almost 1,300 sorties during the Gulf War in 1991, when it was the only allied aircraft to strike targets in downtown Baghdad.

But the $45 million stealth fighters have had problems, including the September 1997 crash of one at a Maryland air show.

The pilot ejected safely, but the accident prompted the U.S. Air Force to temporarily ground the F-117s, suspending routine flights as a precautionary measure.

Correspondent David Ensor and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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