Posted on 02/04/2003 4:25:15 PM PST by kattracks
WASHINGTON, Feb 4 (Reuters) - The Pentagon has deployed F-117A "Nighthawk" stealth fighters, which played a key role in the 1991 Gulf War, from Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico for use in a possible war with Iraq, U.S. officials said on Tuesday.
Robert Pepper, spokesman for Holloman Air Force Base, said the black, angular, precision-strike fighters left the base on Monday night, marking their first deployment for possible hostilities since 1999 in Kosovo.
The F-117A was the only American or coalition aircraft used to strike targets in downtown Baghdad during the Gulf War, according to the Air Force.
Pepper would not say how many of the 50 F-117A jets that are part of the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman were deployed nor would he identify their exact destination.
The departure of the warplanes came as the United States built up a large military force in the Gulf region for a possible invasion of Iraq. The air power component of the force includes heavy bombers, fighter jets and ground-attack warplanes.
President George W. Bush has said the United States will lead a coalition to topple Iraqi President Saddam Hussein by force if he fails to comply with U.N. resolutions requiring him to give up any weapons of mass destruction. Iraq denies having such arms.
The F-117A is a single-seat fighter and is designed to escape notice by enemy radar systems and attack targets with pinpoint accuracy.
"It was used to strike very heavily defended, high-value targets" during the Gulf War, Pepper said. "We flew approximately 1,300 sorties. We scored direct hits on 1,600 targets. ... And the airplane didn't sustain so much as a scratch in combat."
One of the planes went down in Kosovo, with the pilot rescued after being on the ground for about five hours. ((Reporting by Will Dunham; Edited by Anton Ferreira;
It was during the NATO invasion of Yugoslavia in 1999.
Now Belgrade is no where near Kosovo. So the above is simply wrong.
I think the Chinese should evacuate their embassy just in case Pentagon does not have the latest map of downtown Baghdad.
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