Yugoslav (Serbia) is in Europe. Being a European country, Serbia have a better idea of operational mindset of NATO than countries in the Middle East and Asia at large. Secondly, Serbia studied Persian Gulf War (1991) in detail, and drew important lessons from it. FYI:
http://www.ausairpower.net/APA-2009-04.html
Pilot of
that F-117 gave his position by opening bomb doors in a location where Serbian defenses were strong:
The moment of truth came when Zelko opened his bomb doors. That increased his radar signature, allowing the brigade to lock him in their sites and fire two missiles.
According to Zelko, the first one came so close that it buffeted his plane. To his surprise, it didn’t explode – but he wasn’t so lucky with the second. Out at sea, the NATO forces saw the impact.
Despite this, Dale couldn’t help thinking, “Nice shot!”
At that moment, Serbians didn't knew which aircraft they had struck. They learned about their kill when they reached and assessed wreckage. Serbians were not as lucky in any other instance.
F-117 aircraft executed
850 sorties over Serbia in total, and struck many targets there. FYI:
https://www.f-117a.com/AFMissions.html
Contrary to propaganda value of the aforementioned incident,
Stealth works.
That is a 'warplay assumption' on the part of military planners.
Not interested in cook-the-books argument.
You will not know until F-35 operate over China with the intent to conceal its footprint and kill.
More cook-the-books nonsense.
Because of this:
SOP is to make F-35 visible to radars around the world when operating in regions where air traffic is high. This is for the safety of aircraft in general, and also to prevent a curious country to assess unknown blips in the radar screens.