Officer tells N1 how he shot down an 'invisible' Stealth NATO aircraft in 1999

He said that F-117A, a fighter-bomber, which used a variety of technologies that reduce reflection/emission of radar, infrared, visible light, radio frequency (RF) spectrum, and audio, collectively known as the stealth technology, was in fact “partially invisible” and the most important thing was to discover it on time.

Dani said VJ knew the bombing would happen and that only thing they did not know when that would start.

He added the Army also knew NATO would use its most modern weaponry, including the Stealth aircraft.

“They (NATO) claimed F-117 was invisible to 'blind us’,” Dani said.

“We were lucky to have exercised during February (the air campaign started on March 24 1999) and trained on a simulator,” he added.

“We were supposed to be a surprise to the enemy. Our task was to camouflage our position and stay silent. Then, on March 27 we received a DEFCON 1 order and switch on the observation radar to see if we had any targets above,” Dani said.

He added there were “four to five targets,” and that he reported that one was reaching “the zone of elimination.”

“I asked permission to shoot at that target, and after I got it, we let it come to the zone of safe targeting where the plane cannot run away from,” Dani said.

After the F117 crushed, “the feeling is like when a soccer player scores. And we celebrate every March 27 with a cake in F117 shape and ‘destroy’ it again at 8:42 pm,” he added.

NATO bombing, said to be launched to protect Kosovo Albanians from Belgrade's oppression after peace talks in France failed, lasted 78 days.

It ended with an agreement signed by the then Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic and the following UN Resolution 1244 on June 10, 1999. Belgrade withdrew all its police, and army forces from Kosovo and the international legal and military missions replaced Serbia’s institutions in Kosovo.