Arlington, VA, September 20, 1999 — The Air Force Association released a first assessment of the Kosovo military campaign during its 1999 National Convention, held September 13-15 in Washington, DC.

“The Kosovo Campaign: Aerospace Power Made It Work” states that “the main contribution of aerospace power in the Kosovo crisis was to give the NATO allies a strategy that fit their military objectives, and their political consensus — while denying Milosevic the ability to continue to employ the strategy of his choosing.”

The special report was authored by Dr. Rebecca Grant, the president of Iris Independent Research in Arlington, VA, and a fellow of the Eaker Institute for Aerospace Concepts, the public policy and research arm of the Air Force Association’s Aerospace Education Foundation.

To the questions, “Was aerospace power dominant?” and “Was aerospace power decisive?” Grant answers, “Yes,” in both instances. “The Kosovo crisis demonstrated that an air campaign works as the centerpiece of joint operations.”

With respect to operations on the ground, Grant reports that the Kosovo Liberation Army's Operation Arrow, the KLA offensive in late May, came up against heavy resistance from Serbian artillery and troops. Within two days, the KLA rebels were pinned down and “creamed,” according to a senior US intelligence official.

Grant concludes that it was the “devastating effect” the air campaign was having both in Yugoslavia and in Kosovo, along with a series of diplomatic events, including Russia's agreement to a basic strategy to help resolve the crisis, that led to NATO's ultimate success.

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