The First Drone War
How UAVs changed the face of warfare over 20th-century Europe.
For 78 days in 1999, hundreds of aircraft from 13 nations bombarded Yugoslavia as part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) first air war (1).
In a special operation, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were deployed to scout out Serbian positions and prepare pathways for incoming NATO ground forces.
Before the wars in the Middle East, UAVs saw their combat debut over Europe at the end of the 20th century. At the height of this campaign, modifications transformed these pieces of spy tech into killing machines.
Their presence over the 20th century’s last European battlefield foreshadowed what was to come in the global wars of the 21st century.
UAVs Over Kosovo
As war loomed in the Balkans in 1999, two American task forces were deployed with a unique mission.
NATO Supreme Allied Commander General Wesley Clark initially requested a contingent of AH-64 Apache helicopters to penetrate Kosovar airspace and hit Serbian ground targets along the border (2).
