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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Air power alone did not win NATO's war on Yugoslavia, according to a new report released Thursday at a U.S. Senate committee hearing in Washington.
The 78-day NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, Operation Allied Force, ended in June when Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic gave in to NATO demands.
But U.S. Defense Secretary William Cohen and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Hugh Shelton said that other factors -- including Russian diplomacy, the threat of a ground invasion, and the success of ethnic Albanian rebels -- also played an important role.
"Because many pressures were brought to bear, we can never be certain about what caused Milosevic to accept NATO's conditions," the United States' top armed forces officials said in a written statement summarizing the Pentagon's findings on the war.
The "after-action review" faulted NATO for failing to plan for all options, including a possible ground invasion. But Cohen and Shelton concluded that the public discussion of a ground war's possibility "undoubtedly contributed to Milosevic's calculations that NATO would prevail at all costs."
During the war, the United States was short of critical assets such as refueling planes, jamming aircraft, and satellite guided bombs, according to the 18-page statement. It also noted a number of disparities between the military capabilities of the United States and its lesser-equipped NATO allies.
While concluding the air campaign was "an overwhelming success," Cohen and Shelton said in the report that NATO had difficulty targeting Serb air defenses, and that locating mobile targets proved "problematic."
"Our limitations in being able to locate enemy forces under cover is being assessed," the statement said.