Udbina air strike | |||||||
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Part of Operation Deny Flight | |||||||
A French Jaguar over the Adriatic Sea | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Serbian Krajina | |||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Leighton W. Smith |
Milan Martić Ratko Dopuđa | ||||||
Units involved | |||||||
United States Air Force United States Marine Corps Royal Air Force French Air Force Royal Netherlands Air Force | Serbian Army of Krajina | ||||||
Strength | |||||||
39 attack aircraft 16 aircraft in supporting role | Anti-aircraft defenses | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
None |
2 killed Several wounded 2 anti-aircraft batteries 1 SA-6 missile site airstrip destroyed |
On 21 November 1994, NATO aircraft taking part of Operation Deny Flight carried out an airstrike on the airbase of Udbina, Croatia, then part of the self-proclaimed Serbian Republic of Krajina. The Serbian Army of Krajina, through its 105th Aviation Brigade, had been launching air attacks on neighbour Bosnia and Herzegovina from the base in support of allied Serbian forces there, especially during the siege of Bihać. NATO forces intervened in order to deter further attacks. Two anti-aircraft SA-2 missile sites that the Serbs had used to attack Bihac in the ground-to-ground mode and to engage NATO aircraft were also destroyed in the following days. The bombing of Udbina was the largest air combat operation in Europe since World War II, and the largest combat operation in NATO's history up to that time.