Operation Allied Force - Volume 1: Air War Over Serbia, 1999 (Europe@War)

NATO’s 78‑day air campaign over Serbia, told through detailed accounts of both sides’ combat planning and unique photography, reveals the conflict’s multi‑level, technology‑driven dynamics and its human costs.

On 24 March 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) launched Operation Allied Force against Serbia.

Lasting 78 days, this was an unusual conflict fought at several levels. The campaign was fought at the negotiation tables, in the media, and via cyber warfare. In the air, NATO sought to destroy or at least minimize the capability of the Serbian forces, while on the ground the Serbian forces fought the Kosovo-Albanian insurgency. It had an unusual outcome, too: without NATO losing a single soldier in direct action, they still forced the Serbian authorities and armed forces to withdraw from Kosovo, which in 2008 then proclaimed its independence. In turn, the war inflicted serious human and material losses upon the Serbians and the air force was particularly devastated by air strikes on its facilities. Nevertheless, many within NATO subsequently concluded that the skies over Serbia were as dangerous on the last night of this conflict as they were on its first.

Largely based on cooperation with the joint commission of the Serbian Air Force and the U.S. Air Force in Europe (USAFE), Operation Allied Force provides a detailed account of NATO’s aerial campaign, including reconstructions of operations by ‘stealth’ aircraft such as the F-117A and B-2A. This book also offers a detailed reconstruction of the planning and conduct of combat operations by the Serbian Air Force, with special emphasis on the attempts of its sole MiG-29 squadron to challenge enemy strike packages.

This volume is illustrated by a rich collection of exclusive photography collected from both sides, and along with custom-drawn artworks provides a set of entirely new and unique insights into what was the last war fought in Europe during the 20th century.

Bojan Dimitrijevic is working as a historian and is Deputy Director of the Institute for Contemporary History, Belgrade, Serbia. Educated at the Universities of Belgrade and Novi Sad, CEU Budapest and the University of Bradford, he has also worked as the custodian of the Yugoslav Aviation Museum. During the period 2003-2009, Dimitrijevic served as advisor to the Minister of Defense, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, the President of Serbia, and as Assistant to the Minister of Defense. He has published over 50 different books and more than 100 scientific articles in Serbia and abroad. His professional interest is in the military history of the former Yugoslavia and Balkans in World War Two, the Cold War as well as wars in the 1990s.

Lieutenant-General Jovica Draganić (ret.) was educated at the Air Force Technical Military High School, Air Force Technical Military Academy (1984), Command-Staff Academy (1996) and National Defence School (1999), and also graduated at Belgrade Electro-technical Faculty, Belgrade University (1990). He served in the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade for over two decades, in nearly all commanding positions from platoon to brigade commander. Between 2005 and 2017 he served on senior posts within Serbian Armed Forces as: Chief of Staff of the Air Force and Air Defence HQ, Chief of Training/Doctrine Department of General-staff (J-7), Director of the Defence Inspectorate and as Deputy Chief of Staff Serbian Armed Forces. During Operation Allied Force, he commanded the 4th Missile Battalion of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade.