The number of missions they have flown was not determined. "We are doing what we need to do, what allows us to get the job done."Īnother officer with knowledge of the operation said the AC-130s are being used "only on the margins where they are confident they would be safe" and where there is no evidence of operational surface-to-air missile batteries. Stephen Pietropaoli, a spokesman for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. "I don't think this is a significant change in tactics," said Navy Capt. military officials, speaking on condition they not be named, sought to play down the notion that the Spectre gunships represent an increased danger to pilots or show that NATO commanders are willing to take new risks to make gains against Yugoslav troops in Kosovo. The team rescued the pilot of an F-117A stealth fighter that was shot down in March over Yugoslavia. They were originally deployed to Brindisi, Italy, at the beginning of Operation Allied Force as part of a larger Air Force special operations search-and-rescue team.
Air Force Special Operations Command is headquartered. The gunships are part of the 16th Special Operations Wing from Hurlburt Field in Florida, where the U.S. "It shows the seriousness with which we're pursuing them. "This is the main new tactic they are using," said one official. But he quietly ordered elite Air Force Special Operations pilots to begin flying the AC-130s in missions against Yugoslav forces along the border with Albania and elsewhere about three weeks ago, according to NATO and Defense Department officials.
Clark, remains in a standoff with Pentagon officials over use of the Army's 24 AH-64A Apache helicopter gunships stationed in Albania because of fears in Washington that the helicopters would be too vulnerable to antiaircraft fire. Because of their slow speed and low altitude during operations, the gunships are more vulnerable to antiaircraft missiles than the high-flying jets that have provided the firepower so far in NATO's eight-week-old air war over Yugoslavia.
Use of the slow-flying gunships, which spit out howitzer and cannon fire at a withering 2,500 rounds per minute, marks a new, slightly more daring tactic in an air war largely characterized by its lack of risk-taking. pilots have begun flying low-circling AC-130 "Spectre" gunships over Kosovo in an effort to hasten the destruction of Yugoslav troops, tanks and artillery concentrations, according to officials briefed on the operation.
0 kommentar(er)
