NATO Air Strikes

“The August mortar attack was hardly the first challenge to Western policy, not the worst incident of the war; it was only the latest.

Operation Deliberate Force began on August 30 at 2:00 A.M. local time. More than sixty aircraft, flying from bases in Italy and the aircraft carrier Theodore Roosevelt in the Adriatic, pounded Bosnian Serb positions around Sarajevo. It was the largest action in NATO history. French and British artillery from the Rapid Reaction Force joined in, targeting Lukavica barracks southwest of Sarajevo.

Unlike earlier air strikes, when the U.N. and NATO had restricted themselves to hitting individual Serb surface-to-air missile sites or single tanks, these strikes were massive. Planned by Admiral Smith and his brilliant Air Force commander, Lieutenant General Michael E. Ryan, the targets had been picked months in advance. General Ryan had prepared his forces for a possible bombing campaign for several years. I had examined the bulky photoreconnaissance books during a visit to Smith’s headquarters high in the hills above Naples. When the assignment came, he and Smith carried out the mission with great skill and astonishing success.”

(Excerpts from Richard Holbrooke’s book “To End a War”)

NATO’s Air Operations (1995)

NATO’s air operations against Bosnian Serb positions in August and September 1995 helped pave the way for a comprehensive peace agreement. The operation “Deliberate Force” lasted for 12 days and helped shift the balance of power between parties on the ground. It also helped persuade the Bosnian Serb leadership that the benefits of negotiating a peace agreement outweighed those of continuing to wage war.