1995 campaign by NATO and UN forces against Republika Srpska during the Bosnian War
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This article is about the NATO air campaign in August and September 1995. For NATO air campaigns in 1994 and the rest of 1995, see Operation Deny Flight.
Operation Deliberate Force
Part of the NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War
A US Air Force F-16C aircraft returns to Aviano AB, Italy, from a mission in support of NATO airstrikes against the Army of the Republika Srpska
Date
30 August – 20 September 1995
Location
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Result
NATO victory
Bosnian Serbs return to negotiations
Belligerents
NATO
France
Germany
Italy
Netherlands
Spain
Turkey
United Kingdom
United States
UNPROFOR
Republika Srpska
Commanders and leaders
/ Leighton Smith / Michael E. Ryan / Stuart Peach/ Bernard Janvier / André Soubirou / Sir Rupert Smith / Dick Applegate Sir Mark Mans[1]
Ratko Mladić Radislav Krstić
Strength
400 aircraft 5,000 military personnel 1 Ticonderoga-class cruiser 500 French peacekeepers 320 British peacekeepers Dutch 1e Mortiercompagnie, Korps Mariniers 12 105mm guns 8 155mm howitzers 12 British Warrior AFVs
80,000 soldiers
Casualties and losses
1 Mirage 2000N shot down 2 pilots POW 1 MQ-1 Predator shot down[2]
25–27 soldiers killed[3] 338 different targets hit, most of them destroyed
27 Bosnian Serb civilians killed[4]
v
t
e
Bosnian War
Sarajevo
Sarajevo JNA column
Foča
Zvornik
Doboj
Prijedor
Siege of Srebrenica
Massacre
Tuzla JNA column
Bihać
Jackal
Vrbas '92
Corridor 92
Smoluća
Korićani Cliffs
Croat–Bosniak War
Bura
Battle of Žepče
Kravica
Duša
Štrpci
Battle of Travnik (1993)
Mostar
Deny Flight
Ahmići
Trusina
Sovići/Doljani
Dobrinja
Bugojno
Mokronoge
Grabovica
Neretva '93
Stupni Do massacre
Križančevo Selo
1st Markale
Banja Luka
Tvigi 94
Washington Agreement
Bøllebank
Amanda
Tiger
Spider
2nd Kupres
Udbina airstrike
Winter '94
Leap 1
Vlašić
Orašje
Pale airstrikes
Tuzla
Vrbanja Bridge
Leap 2
Mrkonjić Grad
Vozuća
Miracle
Summer '95
Storm
2nd Markale
Deliberate Force
Mistral 2
Sana
Una
Southern Move
v
t
e
NATO intervention in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Maritime Monitor
Sky Monitor
Maritime Guard
Deny Flight
Sharp Guard
Deliberate Force
IFOR
SFOR
Operation Deliberate Force was a sustained air campaign conducted by NATO, in concert with the UNPROFOR ground operations, to undermine the military capability of the Army of Republika Srpska, which had threatened and attacked UN-designated "safe areas" in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the Bosnian War with the Srebrenica genocide and Markale massacres, precipitating the intervention. The shelling of the Sarajevo marketplace on 28 August 1995 by the VRS is considered to be the immediate instigating factor behind NATO's decision to launch the operation.[5][6]
The operation was carried out between 30 August and 20 September 1995, involving 400 aircraft and 5,000 personnel from 15 nations. Commanded by Admiral Leighton W. Smith Jr.,[7][6] the campaign struck 338 Bosnian Serb targets, many of which were destroyed. Overall, 1,026 bombs were dropped during the operation, 708 of which were precision-guided.[8] On 19 occasions, depleted uranium munitions were used against targets around Sarajevo and Han Pijesak.[9]
The bombing campaign was also roughly conterminous with Operation Mistral 2, two linked military offensives of the Croatian Army, the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Croatian Defence Council launched in western Bosnia. The campaign also lifted the siege of Sarajevo which led to the way for a negotiated settlement.[10]
^"Foreword" (PDF). TAQ (6). September 2009. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 September 2012. Retrieved 24 May 2012.
^"Budućnost je počela 1995. kod Nevesinja kada su Srbi oborili prvi dron u istoriji". Politika. 16 January 2023.
^"US interventions post-Cold War: Bosnian War". Al Jazeera. 5 September 2013. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
^Ripley, Tim (1999). Operation Deliberate Force: The UN and NATO Campaign in Bosnia, 1995. Lancaster, England: Centre for Defence and International Security Studies. p. 316. ISBN 978-0-9536650-0-6.
^Raugh, Harold R. "Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR V Corps in Bosnia-Herzegovina 1995-1996 An Oral History" (PDF).
^ abAtkinson, Rick (15 November 1995). "AIR ASSAULT SET STAGE FOR BROADER ROLE". The Washington Post.
^Holbrooke, Richard (1999). To End a War. New York: Modern Library. p. 327. ISBN 0-375-75360-5. OCLC 40545454.
^Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^"Data concerning the locations of depleted uranium ordnance expended during Allied Operations Deny Flight-Deliberate Force, 1993-95 in Bosnia (grid co-ordinates)". www.nato.int. NATO. Retrieved 5 December 2021.
^"Operation Deliberate Force". Globalsecurity. 5 July 2011.
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Global Information
NATO
UNPROFOR
Republika Srpska
Leighton Smith
Stuart Peach
Bernard Janvier
1 MQ-1 Predator shot down[2]
