By Jacquelyn S. Porth, USIA Security Affairs Correspondent

Washington -- NATO is pursuing "a new class of targets" with its latest Tomahawk cruise missile attack on two dual-use electric power transformers in the Belgrade area, according to Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon, who said the now severely damaged transformers had been powering military command-and-control installations.

In an April 23 briefing, the spokesman said NATO forces struck another significant target overnight when the headquarters of Radio Television Serbia (RTS) was hit, knocking out its television broadcast signal for several hours. "The media is one of the pillars of Milosevic's power," Bacon said. "It is right up there with security forces and the military."

Overall, the allied air campaign "is growing as it ages," the spokesman told reporters at the Pentagon. Quoting from pilot mission reports, Bacon said some of the 96 combat sorties that occurred overnight destroyed four artillery pieces in western Kosovo that had been conducting cross-border shelling operations into Albania. In addition, he said, a mobile command post and seven military vehicles were destroyed in Kosovo along the border with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

Although poor weather engulfed the Balkan theater of operations once again, the spokesman said a total of 434 allied air sorties took place. "The air campaign is intensifying (by) hitting a broader range of targets throughout the country and also...on the ground in Kosovo," he said. NATO's military goal is to make the price so high "that Milosevic decides that he should declare a cease-fire," Bacon said.

Bacon said there are no plans to halt the air campaign while NATO members meet in Washington for a three-day summit that was organized to mark the 50th anniversary of the alliance, but now is focusing on the scope and duration of its campaign to force Federal Republic of Yugoslavia President Slobodan Milosevic to halt violence against Kosovar Albanians and withdraw armed forces from the province to allow the insertion of a NATO-led peacekeeping force.

"NATO remains highly committed to...intensifying this campaign and, in fact, making it clear that there is no sanctuary" for those perpetrating the murder of Kosovar Albanians, he said.

The campaign will end at any point that Milosevic indicates a halt to the killings and "the depopulation of Kosovo" and withdraws his forces, allows the NATO-led peacekeeping force in, and permits the hundreds of thousands of refugees to return, Bacon said.

Asked about the characteristics of such a peacekeeping force, the spokesman pointed to the model used in Bosnia following the Dayton Accords. In that case, NATO sent in a fully armored, highly trained combat force to keep the peace.

Asked about press reports that Milosevic has told former Russian Prime Minister and special Balkan envoy Viktor Chernomyrdin that he is ready to allow a foreign-led force into Kosovo, Bacon said he had not yet seen the stories.

He went on to say, however, "We welcome the Russian efforts to try to achieve a diplomatic settlement." But offering to permit the entry of foreign troops into Kosovo "does not say nearly enough," he said, adding later, "I don't think anybody should believe that an unarmed force of observers or a force that isn't (a) well trained... solid combat force can go in and enforce the peace in Kosovo after all the killing that has gone on there."

Asked to clarify NATO's position on using ground troops in Kosovo, Bacon said that is one of the subjects being discussed at the April 23-25 Summit.

It is possible that "clearer guidance" may emerge from the meetings, he said, or, that it could evolve after NATO officials return to Brussels and complete a more comprehensive study of the number of ground forces needed to enter Kosovo in permissive, semi-permissive or non-permissive environments, now that the air campaign had built up over a period of a month. When NATO planners studied the permissive and non-permissive scenarios in October, their "guesstimate" of the numbers of troops needed was soon put aside.

During a similar briefing April 22, Bacon said that NATO Secretary General Javier Solana has asked for a review of the earlier assessments, given a variety of new factors including the buildup up of Yugoslav military and special police forces in and around Kosovo since the Fall, the extent of the forced depopulation of Kosovar Albanians, and the degree of effectiveness of the air campaign. At the same time, he said, allied support remains steadfast for the existing air campaign as it unfolds and expands.

Asked about the timing for any large-scale mobilization of allied forces for a ground operation, Bacon said April 23 that there would be "plenty of time to mobilize" because it would take time, too, for Milosevic to withdraw his forces from Kosovo. The issue of how long it would take to ready an allied ground force for deployment is complicated by existing requests by the Supreme Allied Commander for additional aircraft, and by where they would be based if granted.

The spokesman was also asked about the issue of oil shipment into the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia through Montenegro. He indicated that this was a Summit agenda item this week.

Queried about the necessity of targeting Serb T.V. and the assumed deaths associated with the attack, Bacon said the station"has stirred up nationalist passions and misreported...what is going on" in Kosovo, making it impossible for the general population to understand the full scope of ongoing military operations in Kosovo. Regarding civilians, he said efforts are made to attack targets at times when buildings are least likely to be occupied and to use precision-guided munitions in order to keep casualties "as low as possible."

Bacon returned for a second day to the subject of the three U.S. prisoners of war (POWs) being held by Belgrade authorities. Despite a public promise by Milosevic that the Americans could be visited by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), he said they no visit has occurred -- a violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention governing treatment of POWs. The spokesman contrasted their treatment with that of a Yugoslav soldier in allied hands who has received multiple ICRC visits.