During the conflict in Bosnia, the UN had imposed a No Fly Zone (NFZ) over the country. Only with a previous authorization by the UN could someone fly over Bosnia. In order to assure that NFZ the UN gave a mandate to NATO for the implementation of the necessary measures and, simultaneously, deployed UN Military Observers (UNMO) to the Croatian and Yugoslavian radar sites of the respective civilian air traffic Area Control Centers (ACC).
Looking at the ACC radar scope, we could see several targets flying over Bosnia. They had a considerable speed, displayed similar radar identification codes and were performing wide circular patterns. Those were the NATO fighters – the Guardians of the No Fly Zone. Down South, over the Adriatic Sea, there was a NATO radar observation aircraft; a Boeing E-3 Sentry – AWACS – pointing its radar downward, trying to see low level violations of the NFZ. Occasionally, up north, inside Hungarian airspace, there was another AWACS, making sure there were no radar blind areas over Bosnia.
The AWACS radio call sign was “Magic”. Anything flying in Bosnia without UNPROFOR permission, would be detected by a “Magic” and intercepted by the “Guardians”, in which case the intruder would be advised (on the emergency frequencies) to “exit immediately the No-Fly Zone, or be prepared to be submitted to drastic measures”.
Having UN radar operators looking upwards and NATO radar operators looking downwards, theoretically, would mean the No-Fly Zone was completely covered; no “fly” would “fly” undetected over Bosnia … or so we thought! The Serbian pilots were nothing less than experienced aviators.
They knew all the tricks in the play book and, although in much less quantity, there were still flying around inside the NFZ. Sometimes we saw them; other times we didn’t see them, but we knew they were still flying over Bosnia.
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