ERRI Risk Assessment Services-Monday, April 19, 1999-18:04CDT

CRISIS NEWS BRIEFS

BELGIUM (EmergencyNet News) - After five days of agonizing, NATO acknowledged on Monday that it may have killed an undetermined number of civilians in an attack on a convoy in Kosovo. In an elaborate explanation by Brig. Gen. Dan Leaf, commander of the air wing at Aviano air base in Italy, NATO described attacks last week near the town of Djakovica. Yugoslav officials reported about 80 people dead from the 14 April attack in the Yugoslav province, but NATO and other officials question the casualty figure as well as other details of the Serb report.

RUSSIA (EmergencyNet News) - In what is becoming an almost tiresome daily occurrance, Russian President Boris Yeltsin warned the West on Monday that he would not allow it to establish control over Yugoslavia, but his tough talk came mixed with conciliatory gestures over the Kosovo crisis. Yeltsin also said Moscow would send no more warships to the Mediterranean, a move that has alarmed NATO, offered Russian mediation efforts and spent 50 minutes discussing the crisis by telephone with POTUS.

WASHINGTON (EmergencyNet News) - POTUS said Monday he would ask U.S. Congress for emergency funds to pay for NATO's Kosovo air campaign and for humanitarian aid to the thousands of refugees fleeing the Yugoslav province. While the President did not cite a figure, White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said it would be roughly $6 billion. Congressional sources said they expected the request to include $5.45 billion for the Pentagon and about $491 million in humanitarian aid.

Compiled by Jeremy Zakis, ERRI Analyst

This is a quick reference of the objectives and military hardware involved in the Kosovo conflict. Both friendly and unfriendly forces are included. All the information is compiled from the U.S. Military's 'DefenseLINK' web pages and can be found at:

"http://www.defenselink.mil/specials/kosovo/".

The mission of Operation ALLIED FORCE is to convince Serbian political and military leadership that the costs of war are so high that they should pursue peace and damage Serbia's capacity to conduct such operations.

The NATO Objectives are:

-- Deter Belgrade from increasing its offensive against Kosovar Albanians

-- Damage Belgrade's capacity to take repressive action

-- And demonstrate NATO's seriousness of purpose in making Serbian political and military leadership change course.

The NATO ALLIED/FRIENDLY FORCES are comprised of:

All nineteen NATO countries are currently contributing to Operation Allied Force. The countries include Belgium, Canada, Czech Rep, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.

U.S. Participation:

Total: 21,400 personnel

Ashore - 6,700

Afloat - 14,800

NAVAL FORCES in the Mediterranean:

Cruisers: USS Vella Gulf (CG 72), Leyte Gulf (CG55),

USS Philippine Sea (CG-58).

Destroyers: USS Nicholson (DD-982) and the USS Gonzales

(DDG-66)

Aircraft Carrier: USS Theodore Roosevelt (CVN 71)

Submarines: Albuquerque (USS 706), and USS Miami (SSN-755).

NAVAL FORCES in the Adriatic:

Standing Naval Forces Mediterranean (STANAVFORMED) has reassembled in the Adriatic. STANAVFORMED composition varies, but as of Jan. 19 it included:

Destroyer, USS Thorn (DD 988), flagship for NATO's Standing Naval Force Mediterranean

FGS RHEINLAND PFALZ frigate, Germany.

HS KIMON destroyer, Greece.

ITS ZEFFIRO frigate, Italy.

HNLMS BLOYS VAN TRESLONG frigate, The Netherlands.

SPS Numancia frigate, Spain.

TCG Muavenet frigate, Turkey.

HMS IRON DUKE frigate, United Kingdom

(Editor's Note: The UK HMS Invincible aircraft carrier is now on the scene.)

Nassau Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) consisting of the USS Nassau (LHA-4), the USS Pensacola (LSD-38) and the USS Nashville (LPD-43).

AIR CAMPAIGN ASSETS:

Currently there are about 500 U.S. aircraft committed to NATO.

These include:

F-15 Strike Eagle Air-to-ground attack aircraft

F-16 Fighting Falcon Multirole Fighter

F-117 Nighthawk Fighter/attack

B-52 Stratofortress Heavy bomber

B-1B Lancer Long-range, multi-role, heavy bomber

B-2 Spirit Multi-role heavy bomber

A-10 Thunderbolt II Close Air Support

KC-135 Stratotanker Tanker (refueler)

KC-10A Extender Tanker (refueler)

F-14 Tomcat Fighter

AV-8B Harrier Close Air Support

EA-6B Prowler Electronic Warfare

C-130 Hercules Intratheater airlift

C-141 Starlifter Cargo and troop transport

C-17 Globemaster III Cargo and troop transport

FA-18 Hornet Strike fighter

E-8C Joint Stars Ground Surveillance

RQ-1A Predator Airborne Surveillance Reconnaissance and

Target Acquisition (Unmanned aerial vehicle)

Hunter Unmanned aerial vehicle

AH-64A Apache Attack helicopter

The SERBIAN FORCES are thought to consist of:

GROUND FORCES

114,000 active-duty soldiers and 1,400 artillery pieces.

ANTI-AIRCRAFT FORCES

100 surface-to-air missiles: a mix of SA-2, SA-3, SA-6, SA-7, SA-9,

SA-13, SA-14 and SA-16. All of these pose a significant threat to

NATO airpower. Yugoslavia also has 1,850 air defense artillery pieces. Although not as effective as the missiles, these are dangerous to NATO planes.

AIR FORCES

240 combat aircraft, including MiG-21s and MiG-29s, and 48 attack helicopters.

MECHANIZED FORCES

1,270 tanks, including T-72s, T-74s, T-55s and M-84s and 825 armored fighting vehicles.

There are approximately 40,000 Serb troops in and around Kosovo now. These forces are equipped with tanks and APCs. Serb forces around the Kosovo border are divided into deployed forces, garrison forces, and reserve forces. The deployed forces have about 96 tanks, and the garrison forces have around 30 tanks in garrison. There is a concentration of Serb troops along the border between Kosovo and Macedonia, by the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. These forces have been building up for several weeks.

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