27.03.2012.

Marking the Day of downing F-117 stealth bomber aircraft

Minister of Defence Dragan Sutanovac, accompanied by Deputy Chief of Staff of the Serbian Armed Forces Major General Milan Bjelica, Air Force and Air Defence Commander Major General Ranko Zivak, Commander of the 250th Air Defence Missile Brigade Brigadier General Dusko Zarkovi? and associates have attended the traditional marking of 27th March, the day of downing F-117A stealth bomber aircraft during the bombing of FR Yugoslavia in 1999.

- I come here tonight as a friend, not as a minister - the Minister said, addressing the members of the 250th missile brigade. – Your brigade is one of the most famous in the world. You had the opportunity to prove yourself in the most difficult circumstances, to down then the so-called invisible plane and break up a great mystery about the stealth aircraft technology. Except it was a difficult time for the citizens of Serbia and former Yugoslavia, and great suffering, it is probably the only moment that connects us to that time, and for which we can say that we do not want to forget. The destruction that occurred that year was inappropriate to our time, especially the crimes committed against people – the Minister said.

- What I can promise is that we will continue with modernisation, unfortunately not to the extent it was until now, because of the financial means, but I believe that we are coming out of the crisis in which we were – Minister Sutanovac said, expressing confidence that it will be very soon that we will have "new wings" in our sky and, of course, new equipment for our missile units.

- Wherever I was in the world I spoke with pride that our unit downed the invisible F-117A, and as I heard, during the visit of the Chinese President of the Military Committee, he told Lieutenant Colonel Muminovic who pushed the button that he was a hero. You all deserve to be heroes and be proud of what you did in 1999, as well as what we have done together over the past five years; especially in the part concerning the return of dignity and honour of uniform and prospects of the Serbian Armed Forces – the Defence Minister said adding that the fact that around 2 000 candidates who are expected to compete this year for 180 seats at the Military Academy speaks in support of this.

Commander of the Second Anti-Air Missile Battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Zlatko Misic said that the downing of the "invisible" in that year 1999, was the news that went around the whole world in a few seconds. For the members of the then 3rd Missile Battalion it was a reward for a hard work.

Lieutenant Colonel Senad Muminovi?, who has been retired in this evening's celebration, is responsible for guiding the missile that shot down the stealth bomber. On this occasion, members of the 250th Missile Brigade presented gifts not only to Lieutenant Muminovic, but also to the Defence Minister and the AF&AD Commander.

F-117A bomber was shot down on 27 March 1999 at 20:42 by the combat crew of the 3rd AA missile division. It is the thirteenth consecutive year that this celebration is organized to mark this date, and it is exactly at the time when the "invisible" was shot down by the members of the combat crew who downed the aircraft, that they are cutting the cake in the shape of the said bomber.