7 km seems too low for the B-2..

Fully agree. 7km is way too low.

The attackers of Yugoslavia was separated into two packages. The North Package attacked Belgrade, and Novi Sad region with stealth bombers only, while the South Package attacked Kosovo and Nis region with ALU (non stealth) bombers.


Austrian radar plots of the NATO armada flying through Slovenia, Hungary and the Adriatic sea.

The North Package attacking Belgrade usually consisted 2 EA-6Bs (ECM), 2 pairs of F-15Cs (CAP), 2 pairs of F-16CJs (SEAD), some F-117A, and 1~2 B-2A (flown independently from the package) but using similar TOT as the package.

To avoid mid-air collisions over enemy territory, each mission type of the north package were flown in its own dedicated altitude band, as the CAP and SEAD planes could not see the bombers on their radars, while the stealth bombers had no air-to-air radar and operated under strict radio silence.

Typical North Package:

4 F-15C
entering Yugoslav airspace from Hungary 2min before the CJ’s
2x2ship CAP, separated by 25 miles (east - west), north of Belgrade, out of SAM rings
Wingmen 5 miles trail
Mid-high 30’s alt
6xAIM-120 or 4xAIM-120 + 2xAIM-7MH
2xAIM-9M
3xFuel tank

4 F-16CJ
entering Yugoslav airspace from Hungary
20’s alt
2xHARM
2xAIM120A
2xAIM-9M
2xFuel Tank
AN/ASQ-213 Harm Targeting System (HTS) pod
AN/ALQ-184 ECM pod
4xAN/ALE-50 Towed Decoy

2 EA-6B
circling over Hungary
ECM

10 F-117A
entering Yugoslav airspace from Hungary, flying down south above the Yugoslav-Romanian or Yugoslav-Croatian border, than spider routes towards their targets
below CJ’s mainly above 15kft
2xLGB

2 B-2A
flying independently from the packages, from south to north all throughout the whole country
way above everyone
16xJDAMS

Cpt Michael "Dozer" Shower about the first night (F15C pilot):
"We were in mid- to high 30s, and the CJs in the 20s. The F117s were below them, and the B-2s came through WAY above everyone. This gave us a concern, having JDAMs coming down through us, but it was big-sky-theory in such a tight airspace. We were really stuck; we didn't know where they would be, we had no way to see or avoid them, and we had to stay close to MiG bases."

He had a close encounter unbeknownst to him with an F-117A, when he descended below his altitude band during a dogfight with a MiG-29.


Capt Mike Shower of the 493FS shoots down a MiG-29 over the outskirts of Belgrade in a night-time interception witnessed by an F-117