|
|
 |
|
 |
 |
| NATO'S ARSENAL | |
 March 31, 1999 
|
||
|
|
A look at the types of planes and ships that NATO is using in its campaign against Yugoslavia.
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||
| The A-10. | ||||||||||||||||||||
 KENNETH
BACON: Our goal is to - as we've said many times - is to shift our ability
toward attacking armor and troops on the ground, and we have begun to
attack staging areas and other places where we find these tanks.
KWAME HOLMAN: The A-10 is nicknamed the "Warthog." It was highly successful searching out and destroying Iraqi tanks during the Gulf War.
KWAME HOLMAN: The A-10's, however, fly relatively slowly and at such
low altitudes they are at great risk of return fire. One week into NATO's
military mission against Yugoslavia only one aircraft has been lost,
an American BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM LAKE, Commander, 49th Fighter Wing: Combat is a dangerous business, and the F-117 is tasked with flying through the highest threat environments long before more conventional aircraft make that journey. There are no guarantees, and our pilots, men very much like your sons and your brothers and your neighbors, are courageously putting their lives on the line in support of our national objectives. KWAME HOLMAN: NATO's 400 strong combined air force has a distinct American identity. More than half of NATO's planes are US military aircraft. During the first week of the campaign, NATO flew some 1,700 sorties into enemy air space, primarily from Aviano. The base has operated around the clock, since the strikes began with pilots and maintenance crews preparing constantly for their next mission.
REPORTER: What do you mean? PERRY McCIVER: Well, if you can imagine being on a roller coaster with no tracks, no wheels, and able to move in any direction in any given second, that's what it is. |
||||||||||||||||||||
| By air and sea. | ||||||||||||||||||||
 KWAME
HOLMAN: Among the attack aircraft and Aviano are F-15 and F-16 jet fighters.
Once airborne over Yugoslavia, they're accompanied by one of six EC-130's;
they act as sort of a mother ship during bombing runs, directing and redirecting
jet fighters using up-to-the-minute radar and other data. The EC-130's
operate high above the bombing runs with a crew of 16.
AIR FORCE OFFICER: Our platform is called the ABCCC. It's the Airborne Command Control Center. Basically what we do is take information from the battlefield that we're assigned to, get information for the AWAC's and the battle staff in the back, up to 15 people, we take the information and we disseminate amongst the different fighters, helicopters, or any other tankers, and we coordinate what goes on.
AIR FORCE OFFICER: The missions get long. And when you're over here so long, you just want to do your job and you're ready to go home. |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||
| |||||
 | |||||
| |||||
|
|
| |||
| |||||
| |||||
| Support the kind of journalism done by the NewsHour...Become a member of your local PBS station. | |||||
KWAME
HOLMAN: US Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts landed at Aviano Air Base in
Italy today to participate in a new round of attacks against Yugoslavian
ground forces. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon explained their mission
this afternoon. 
MAJOR
SCOTT VADNAIS, US Military Spokesman: The A-10 is a specially designed
aircraft, it's designed specifically for close air support. It has a
very large Gatling gun on the nose that can fire up to 4,000 rounds
a minute. It's designed to take out tanks, armored vehicles, as well
as the softer targets like trucks or troop concentrations.
F-117
Stealth fighter shot down over Yugoslavia over the weekend. The pilot
was rescued, but the incident reinforced that all Allied planes are
vulnerable. 
PERRY
McCIVER, Weapons Loader: It's a three-dimensional roller coaster. 
KWAME
HOLMAN: Much of NATO's sea-launched attack comes from the USS Gonzalez,
stationed about 60 miles off the Yugoslav Coast in the Adriatic Sea.
Since the opening day of the NATO strike, the Gonzalez has fired Tomahawk
Cruise Missiles at Serbian military installations and air defenses more
than 100 miles away. The Gonzalez has been joined by the guided missile
cruiser USS Phillippine Sea and two other US ships. Together, they launched
some 100 satellite-guided cruise missiles towards Serbia in the first
week of the NATO mission. In the era of war by computer, it was the
click of a mouse, not the punch of a button, that blasted open the missile
hatches and unleashed booster rockets. Currently, some 7,300 US military
personnel are on ships and bases in the region. Morale appears to be
high. 
ROSIE
MUNOZ, Technical Specialist: Well, the tempo is a little bit higher
than normal, but overall, we are helping people. So I think it's a good
thing, and I'm sure that whatever NATO tasks us to do that we will be
prepared to do it. 
KWAME
HOLMAN: But the soldiers are not immune to home sickness. 
