Скачать или смотреть How a Nighthawk Was Shot Down | How an Old Soviet S-125 Missile System Shot Down a Stealth F-117

How a Nighthawk Was Shot Down | How an Old Soviet S-125 Missile System Shot Down a Stealth F-117
   • How a Nighthawk Was Shot Down | How an Old...  
On the night of March 27, 1999, NATO’s “invisible” F-117A Nighthawk — callsign Vega 31 — slipped into the stormy skies over Belgrade on a solo strike mission. Minutes later, it became the first stealth aircraft ever shot down in combat.

This video tells the complete, detailed, and true story of how Lieutenant Colonel Darrell “Dale” Zelko found himself alone over Serbia, flying toward one of the most heavily defended areas of the Balkans, while on the ground Lieutenant Colonel Zoltán Dani and his S-125 “Neva” battery prepared an ambush with an old P-18 low-frequency radar.

Using clever “blink” tactics — turning the radar on for only a few seconds at a time — Dani’s operators searched for a single wrong-moving signal: a tiny “baseball” on the radar scope pushing against the wind. When Vega 31 opened its bomb bay to release its LGBs, its radar cross-section spiked for just a brief moment… enough to lock on.

Two missiles were fired.
One missed.
The second exploded near the left wing of the F-117, tearing the jet apart and forcing Zelko into a violent, nearly uncontrollable spin. Fighting through over 7 Gs, he managed to pull the ejection handle and parachuted deep inside enemy territory.

What followed was a desperate evasion: lying in a muddy ditch, avoiding Serbian soldiers, militia units, searchlights, and even dogs. With the enemy closing in, Zelko made a last-chance decision — firing a flare to guide NATO CSAR helicopters, risking his location to both friend and foe.

And years later, something almost unheard of happened:
Pilot and missile commander met face-to-face.
Zelko and Dani shook hands, shared coffee, and reflected on the night that changed both their lives and reshaped modern air warfare.

This is the full story — the tactics, the technology, the human moments, and the historical impact of the shootdown of Vega 31.

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#F117 #Nighthawk #Vega31 #Stealth #S125 #P18Radar #ZoltanDani #DarrellZelko #Yugoslavia1999 #NATO #AirWarfare #MilitaryHistory