Task Force Hawk
| Task Force Hawk | |
|---|---|
| Active | 5 April 1999 – 24 June 1999 |
| Country |
 United States of America
|
| Branch |
 United States Army
|
| Role | Deep strike |
| Size | 5,100 |
| Equipment |
Various |
| Engagements | NATO bombing of Yugoslavia |
| Decorations |
Kosovo Campaign Medal Air and Space Campaign Medal NATO Medal |
| Commanders | |
| Task Force Hawk Commander | John W. Hendrix |
Various
Task Force Hawk was a U.S. military unit constructed and deployed by General Wesley Clark to provide additional support to NATO's Operation Allied Force against the Yugoslavian government during the 1999 unrest in the Serbian province of Kosovo. The task force was to operate from the March 1999 until June 1999 when Slobodan Milošević withdrew the Yugoslavian Army from Kosovo.
Task Force Hawk, which never fired a round, has been hailed as both one of the largest blunders and largest successes by the U.S. military in recent years. This action has been reviewed and analyzed from every angle to determine what went right and what went wrong.
Planning for Task Force Hawk did not start until 20 March 1999 in Grafenwohr, Germany; even though, the planning for Operation Allied Force had begun in the winter of 1998. Gen Clark and Admiral James O. Ellis, while at the Warfighter Exercise, discussed how to utilize the Apaches to augment the Air Force assets poised to strike in four days. The Army's planners would be strapped for time to put together a plan to deploy a mission that had never been employed by an AH-64 Apache unit. Instead of supporting ground troops the Apaches would be supporting Air Force missions. Gen. Clark's vision for the unit was to destroy the Yugoslavian units stationed in Kosovo supporting the Serbian police force. The Yugoslavian units were not formed in the company or battalion sized formations but rather spread out through the countryside. This made acquiring the targets and relaying the information to bomber units who couldn't spot them easily. It was projected that the Apache units would be able to identify and eliminate these targets more efficiently, due to their effectiveness in the first Gulf War. The Apaches would be supported by MLRS units conducting SEAD missions. Gen. Clark's hope was that by eliminating a large enough portion of the Serbian forces would force Yugoslavian government to end the conflict. Gen. Clark would face opposition to this opinion from several members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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Wikipedia