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Mrkonjić Grad incident

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Mrkonjić Grad incident
Part of NATO intervention in Bosnia and Operation Deliberate Force

A 2K12 Kub antiaircraft missile system, known as SA-6 by its NATO reporting name
Date2 June 1995
Location
near Mrkonjić Grad
Result Army of Republika Srpska victory
Belligerents
 NATO
•  United States		  Republika Srpska
Commanders and leaders
United States Scott O'Grady Republika Srpska unknown
Casualties and losses
F-16C shot down none

The Mrkonjić Grad incident took place on 2 June 1995 during the Bosnian war. On that day, the Army of Republika Srpska shot down an American F-16C aircraft near Mrkonjić Grad with an SA-6 missile. The pilot, Scott O'Grady, ejected from the cockpit and was rescued six days later. The incident was the subject of the 2001 American film Behind Enemy Lines and a 2007 National Geographic documentary about the incident was aired on the channel as part of the series Situation Critical - Downed Pilot.

Background

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Banja Luka incident

[edit]
Main article: Banja Luka incident

The Bosnian Serb Jastrebs headed northwards, back to their base. At 6:45 a.m., the NATO fighters engaged their opponents. Captain Robert G. Wright fired an AIM-120 AMRAAM, downing the first Jastreb which was flying at 1,500 metres (4,900 ft). The remaining Jastrebs dropped to a few hundred metres, flying at low level to use the mountainous terrain to hide from radar and make their escape back to Udbina. Wright pressed on, closing to within AIM-9 Sidewinder range. He engaged two aircraft with heat-seeking Sidewinder missiles, shooting them both down.

After he had expended all his missiles and low on fuel, Wright handed over the chase to his wingman, Capt. Scott O'Grady, who had been flying 'top cover' above his flight leader. O'Grady dropped down to engage and fired an AIM-9M; the missile locked on and a near explosion of the warhead triggered by the proximity fuse severely damaged the tail of the targeted Jastreb. Black flight was now approaching "bingo fuel", the point at which a plane will not have enough fuel to return, so they pulled off to refuel from a KC-135 Stratotanker circling in orbit over the Adriatic.

At the same time the other pair of F-16Cs, "Knight 25" and "Knight 26",[1] had been vectored to the area by the AWACS. At 6:50 a.m., "Knight 25", piloted by Capt. Steve "Yogi" Allen, managed to get in behind a single Jastreb flying at a very low altitude. He launched a Sidewinder, downing another J-21 Jastreb. Knight 25 flight turned back hard to the south, where Knight 26, Col. John "Jace" Meyer, established radar lock on another aircraft fleeing to the northwest. After a minute of pursuit, radar contact was lost and the flight broke off the attack. Low on fuel, Knight 25 and 26 returned to the tanker over the Adriatic. After refueling, they resumed combat air patrol over Bosnia. Two remaining Serb aircraft were able to land as they ran out of fuel at Udbina Air Base in the Serbian Krajina in present-day Croatia.[2][3]

The USAF credited three kills to Captain Robert Gordon "Wilbur" Wright,[4] flying F-16C-40 #89-2137/RS,[5] using an AIM-120 AMRAAM and two AIM-9 Sidewinders; and one kill using an AIM-9 Sidewinder to Captain Stephen L. "Yogi" Allen[6] flying F-16C-40 #89-2009/RS[7] of the same unit. The Bosnian Serbs acknowledged the loss of five aircraft in the incident; the discrepancy probably stems from the fact that an additional aircraft crashed after being hit by a missile explosion[8] while trying to escape in low-level flight.[9]

This engagement was the first wartime action conducted by NATO forces since its formation in 1949.

Shotdown

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On the ground, a Bosnian Serb army 2K12 Kub surface-to-air missile battery near Mrkonjić Grad was readying to fire its missiles on NATO aircraft. These Serbs had moved the mobile-tracked missile battery and laid a trap. They switched on their missile radars intermittently, giving F-16 fighters little warning. Waiting until a plane was directly overhead, where the aircraft's warning and countermeasures would be at their weakest, they fired two missiles. In the cockpit, O'Grady's instruments alerted him that a missile was coming, but, because he was flying through an overcast sky, he could not see it. The first missile exploded between the two aircraft. The second struck the F-16 piloted by O'Grady. His flight lead, Captain Robert Gordon "Wilbur" Wright, saw O'Grady's plane burst into flames and break in two. Wright did not see a parachute, but O'Grady survived by ejecting from the aircraft.

O'Grady landed among a Bosnian Serb population that he was briefed would be unfriendly. He quickly secured a 29-pound (13 kg) survival bag, ran, and hid. Rubbing dirt on his face, he hid face-down as Bosnian Serb forces came upon his parachute, half a dozen times shooting their rifles only feet from where he was hidden in an effort to flush him out or kill him.

2K12 Kub of the Serbian Armed Forces similar to one used by Bosnian Serbs
F-16C of the 555th Fighter Squadron based at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

During the next six days, he put to use the lessons learned during a 17-day Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape (SERE) training session he had undertaken near his hometown of Spokane, Washington. He ate leaves, grass, and bugs, and stored the little rainwater he could collect with a sponge in plastic bags.[10]

O'Grady radioed for help immediately but had to remain quiet with paramilitaries coming within feet of him; he used the radio following standard operating procedures as the U.S. Air Force had taught him so as not to give away his position to unfriendly forces. On his 6th night on the ground he made radio contact, signalling his location using his radio's limited battery power. NATO warplanes conducting sorties in the Balkans had been picking up beeper snippets that they thought could be coming from O'Grady. This extremely sensitive information was inadvertently revealed by General Ronald Fogleman, the Air Force Chief of Staff, when the general told reporters attending a promotion ceremony that monitors had detected "intermittent" transmissions. A NATO official was quoted as saying "I was dumbfounded he said that... I mean, why not just announce to the bad guys, 'We think he's alive and kicking, and we hope we find him before you do'?"

Rescue

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O'Grady and two other USAF officers holding a press conference on 10 June 1995

Just after midnight on June 8, O'Grady spoke into the radio. An F-16 pilot, Captain Thomas "T.O." Hanford, from the 510th responded and, after confirming his identity, the rescue was set in motion. At 0440 local time, USAF General Michael Ryan and Navy Admiral Leighton Smith, commander of NATO Southern Forces, called US Marine Corps Colonel Martin Berndt aboard USS Kearsarge with orders to "execute".[11]

Two CH-53 Sea Stallions with 51 marines from the 3rd Battalion, 8th Marines within the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit lifted off USS Kearsarge to rescue the pilot. The two helicopters were accompanied by two Marine Corps AH-1W Supercobra helicopter gunships and a pair of Marine Corps AV-8B Harrier jump jets, one piloted by Captain Ronald C. Walkerwicz. These six aircraft had support from identical sets of replacement helicopters and jump jets as well as two Navy EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare planes, two Air Force EF-111A Raven electronic warfare planes, two Marine F/A-18D Hornets, a pair of anti-tank Air Force A-10 Thunderbolts, an SH-60B from USS Ticonderoga, and an RAF AWACS E-3D.[11]

At 0635, the helicopters approached the area where O'Grady's signal beacon had been traced. The pilots saw bright yellow smoke coming from trees near a rocky pasture where O'Grady had set off a flare. The first Sea Stallion, commanded by Major William Tarbutton, touched down and 20 Marines jumped off the aircraft and set up a defensive perimeter.[12] As the second Sea Stallion, commanded by Captains Paul Fortunato and James Wright, landed, a figure with a pistol who turned out to be the missing pilot appeared running towards the Marines and immediately went to the Sea Stallion. As the side door opened, he was pulled in before the second 20 Marines poised to leave by the rear ramp could even move. They were called back to their seats, and those who had formed the defensive perimeter reboarded the other helicopter. After a quick head count, the Stallions took off. They had been on the ground no more than seven minutes.[11]

The Marines, with O'Grady, flew low over Serb-held Bosnia. However, American aircraft detected a Serb missile radar along the Croatian coast, scanning for targets. An American plane recommended destroying the Serb radar, code-named Giraffe. The request was denied, partly out of concern that a strike could spark wider conflict.[13]

Minutes later, the Marines reported they were under fire. Three shoulder-launched surface-to-air missiles had been fired at them but missed, as the helicopter pilots—flying 150 feet (46 m) off the ground at 175 mph (282 km/h)—jinked to evade them. Serb small arms pocked both helicopters; the Marines aboard heard the bullets hit inside the fuselage.[14][13] One door gunner returned fire. One round hit some communication gear in the chopper and the bullet ended up against Sergeant Major Angel Castro Jr.'s armor without injuring anyone. At 0715 local time, 30 minutes after picking up O'Grady, the rescuers reported "feet wet", meaning they were over water.[14][13] O'Grady was back aboard the Kearsarge at 0730.[15]

Aftermath

[edit]
See also: Operation Deliberate Force
A fin fragment from Scott O'Grady's F-16 as shown in the Moscow Aviation Institute

On August 11, 1995,[16] a USAF RQ-1 Predator drone was shot down by Serb forces in the same area where the F_16 fell.[17] The Serbs recovered the wreckage and handed it over to Russia for technical evaluation.[16] On August 30, after a Serb mortar attack on Sarajevo's marketplace resulted in dozens of civilian casualties,[18] NATO, supported on the ground by UNPROFOR and the UN Rapid Reaction Force, launched Operation Deliberate Force, a massive airstrike campaign which eventually lifted the siege of Sarajevo and led to the end of the war in Bosnia.[19]

O'Grady was awarded the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.[20]

References

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  1. ^ Call sign of the aircraft
  2. ^ Owen, Robert C. (1997). Deliberate Force: A Case Study in Effective Air Campaign. Maxwell Air Base, Alabama: Air University Press. p. 405.
  3. ^ Haulman, Daniel L. "MANNED AIRCRAFT LOSSES OVER THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, 1994- 1999" (PDF). Airmen at War. Air Force Historical Research Agency. pp. 2–3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 August 2024.
  4. ^ Capt. Robert G. Wright nickname (sometimes a.k.a. Capt. Bob G. Wright)
  5. ^ "Airframe Details for F-16 #89-2137". f-16.net.
  6. ^ Capt. Stephen L. Allen nickname (sometimes a.k.a. Capt. Steve L. Allen)
  7. ^ "Airframe Details for F-16 #89-2009". f-16.net.
  8. ^ "See the aircraft's tail picture on Bushev F-16 u praksi". Archived from the original on 2011-10-14. Retrieved 2011-10-21.
  9. ^ Lista gubitaka/ostecenja vazduhoplova u Ex-JRV od 1945 godine do danas
  10. ^ O'Grady & French 1995.
  11. ^ a b c Kevin Fedarko; Mark Thompson; Edward Barnes; Ann Blackman; Greg Burke; Dan Cray; Douglas Waller (June 19, 1995). "Rescuing Scott O'Grady: All For One". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024.
  12. ^ Bruce B. Auster (June 19, 1995). "One Amazing Kid – Capt. Scott O' Grady escapes from Bosnia-Herzegovina". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on May 29, 2011.
  13. ^ a b c Thomas, Evan (June 18, 1995). "An American Hero". Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 8, 2014. Retrieved February 5, 2015.
  14. ^ a b Kevin Fedarko; Mark Thompson; Edward Barnes; Ann Blackman; Greg Burke; Dan Cray; Douglas Waller (June 19, 1995). "Rescuing Scott O'Grady: All For One". Time Magazine. Archived from the original on 18 July 2024.
  15. ^ "DoD News Briefing: Admiral William Owens, Vice Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff". U.S. Department of Defense. June 8, 1995. Archived from the original on October 26, 2012.
  16. ^ a b RQ-1 Predator/MQ-9 Reaper June 2019, p. 30
  17. ^ Major Robert C. Nolan II: The Pilotless Air Force?. The Research DepartmentAir Command and Staff College, March 1997, page 6
  18. ^ Ozturk, Tahla (28 August 2019). "Bosnia marks anniversary of Sarajevo market bombing". www.aa.com.tr. Retrieved 2025-02-04.
  19. ^ Richard Holbrooke (1999). To End a War. New York: Modern Library. p. 102. ISBN 0-375-75360-5.
  20. ^ "Former Air Force Fighter Pilot Scott O'Grady Announces Republican Primary Candidacy For Texas State Senate District 8 :: Scott O'Grady for State Senate". Archived from the original on October 9, 2018.
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