The Soko J-22 Orao (Eagle) is a twin-engined, subsonic, close support, ground-attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, with secondary capability as a low level interceptor. It was designed as a single-seat main attack version or as a combat capable two-seat version for advanced flying and weapon training. It was developed as a joint Yugoslav-Romanian project in the 1970s for the air forces of both nations, SOKO

SOKO

SOKO was an aircraft factory situated in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina. It gained prominence in Yugoslavia.-Products:* Soko 522* Soko S-55-5 Mk...

 building it in Yugoslavia, and Avioane Craiova as the IAR-93 Vultur

IAR-93

IAR-93 "Vultur" is a twin-engine, subsonic, close support, ground attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft with secondary capability as low level interceptor, built as single-seat main attack version or combat capable two-seat version for advanced flying and weapon training...

 in Romania.

Development

On 20 May 1971, the governments of Romania and Yugoslavia signed an agreement for the formation of YuRom, a joint R&D

Research and development

The phrase research and development , according to the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, refers to "creative work undertaken on a systematic basis in order to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of man, culture and society, and the use of this stock of...

 venture. The program was headed by Dipl. Dr. Engineer Teodor Zanfirescu of Romania and Colonel Vidoje Knezević of Yugoslavia. The aircraft was intended as a replacement for the lightly armed Soko J-21 Jastreb

Soko J-21 Jastreb

|-See also:...

  and the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, then in the JNA

Yugoslav People's Army

The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...

 arsenal.

The requirements called for a light aircraft to be built on a simple structure, using locally produced equipment and avionics, tough (able to operate on grass or damaged runways), easy to maintain and reliable. The aircraft was of conventional twin-engine, high mounted wing monoplane configuration with all flying surfaces swept. The designers originally planned a single-engined supersonic aircraft, but Britain would not authorize the license

Licence-built

The term licence-built refers to an object manufactured by one organisation with the authorisation of the organisation that owns the intellectual property of the design...

 for the engine the designers wanted (due to Romania being in the Warsaw Pact), so the less-powerful Rolls-Royce Viper was chosen as the powerplant, as Soko had experience with license-building this engine. It was originally intended that an afterburner would be developed for the Viper engines, but there were prolonged difficulties with this project, meaning that none of the pre-production aircraft featured it, and neither did early production examples. During the 1980s, both countries developed slightly different versions to take advantage of the afterburning engines that had since become available.

The Yugoslav prototype 25002 made its first flight in November 1974 from Batajnica Air Base near Belgrade

Belgrade

Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...

, with Major Vladislav Slavujević at the controls.

The third aircraft, numbered 003, a pre-production two-seater version, made its first flight on 4 July 1977, but was lost almost a year later due to tail flutter problems. Construction continued, and the first batches of pre-production machines were delivered in 1978 to the Air Force Aircraft Testing Facility in Belgrade, with serial production being set up in Mostar

Mostar

Mostar is a city and municipality in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the largest and one of the most important cities in the Herzegovina region and the center of the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton of the Federation. Mostar is situated on the Neretva river and is the fifth-largest city in the country...

, Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

.

On 22 November 1984, Orao 25101 piloted by test pilot Marjan Jelen broke the sound barrier

Sound barrier

The sound barrier, in aerodynamics, is the point at which an aircraft moves from transonic to supersonic speed. The term, which occasionally has other meanings, came into use during World War II, when a number of aircraft started to encounter the effects of compressibility, a collection of several...

 in a shallow dive over Batajnica Air Base, becoming the first Yugoslav-designed aircraft to exceed Mach

Mach number

Mach number is the speed of an object moving through air, or any other fluid substance, divided by the speed of sound as it is in that substance for its particular physical conditions, including those of temperature and pressure...

 1. The aircraft is incapable of breaking the sound barrier in level flight, so it is classified as subsonic.

Design

The J-22 is a twin-engined combat jet aircraft for close air support, ground attack and tactical reconnaissance warplane with limited air-defense capability

Standard communication and navigation equipment, plus (fire control and weapons management) Thompson-CSF VE-120T HUD replacing the original Ferranti ISIS D-282 gyro sight (defensive sensors and systems) Iskra SO-1 RWR and provision for up to three chaff/flare dispensers and P10-65-13 passive jammer pod, and (navigation) Honeywell SGP500 twin-gyro platform; there is also provision for an optical/IR reconnaissance pod or an optical reconnaissance/jammer pod

Operational history

The first SFR Yugoslav Air Force

SFR Yugoslav Air Force

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Air Force , was the air force of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . Formed in 1945, it was preceded by the Yugoslav Royal Air Force which was disbanded in 1941, following the German occupation of Yugoslavia...

 unit which received J-22 aircraft was the 351st (reconnaissance aviation squadron) from 82nd Aviation Brigade, Cerklje

Cerklje ob Krki

Cerklje ob Krki is a settlement on the left bank of the Krka River in the Municipality of Brežice in eastern Slovenia. It is best known for the Cerklje ob Krki Airbase to the north of the settlement. The area was traditionally part of Lower Carniola...

. Until the 1991 war

Yugoslav wars

The Yugoslav Wars were a series of wars, fought throughout the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995. The wars were complex: characterized by bitter ethnic conflicts among the peoples of the former Yugoslavia, mostly between Serbs on the one side and Croats and Bosniaks on the other; but also...

, there were only three squadrons fully equipped with J-22 attack aircraft and NJ-22 trainer-attack aircraft. Those units were the 238th (fighter-bomber aviation squadron) from 82nd Aviation Brigade, 241st and 98nd Aviation Brigade and 242nd and 127th Fighter-Bomber Regiment, Golubovci Airbase. There were also about three squadrons partly equipped with J-22 aircraft.

At the beginning of the Yugoslav wars, in Slovenia

Slovenia

Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...

, J-22s flew over in a show of force, but did not drop any bombs. The first offensive action by the J-22 was in 1991 when the Yugoslav National Army used them to strike targets in Croatia

Croatia

Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

. They were used in attacks on arms dealers which were smuggling weapons into Croatia. During the first year of war three J-22s were shot down, NJ-22 flown by Lieutenant Colonel

Lieutenant colonel

Lieutenant colonel is a rank of commissioned officer in the armies and most marine forces and some air forces of the world, typically ranking above a major and below a colonel. The rank of lieutenant colonel is often shortened to simply "colonel" in conversation and in unofficial correspondence...

 Muse Begić who ejected safely and a J-22 flown by Major

Major

Major is a rank of commissioned officer, with corresponding ranks existing in almost every military in the world.When used unhyphenated, in conjunction with no other indicator of rank, the term refers to the rank just senior to that of an Army captain and just below the rank of lieutenant colonel. ...

 Z.Tomić (KIA

Killed in action

Killed in action is a casualty classification generally used by militaries to describe the deaths of their own forces at the hands of hostile forces. The United States Department of Defense, for example, says that those declared KIA need not have fired their weapons but have been killed due to...

) from 238th. After the withdrawal of the JNA

Yugoslav People's Army

The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...

 from Slovenia, 82nd Aviation Brigade was relocated from Cerklje to Banja Luka

Banja Luka

-History:The name "Banja Luka" was first mentioned in a document dated February 6, 1494, but Banja Luka's history dates back to ancient times. There is a substantial evidence of the Roman presence in the region during the first few centuries A.D., including an old fort "Kastel" in the centre of...

 Mahovljani air base. In 1992 when the Bosnian war

Bosnian War

The Bosnian War or the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina was an international armed conflict that took place in Bosnia and Herzegovina between April 1992 and December 1995. The war involved several sides...

 started, the JNA left one squadron of J-22s to Republika Srpska Air Force

Republika Srpska Air Force

The Republika Srpska Air Force was the air force of Republika Srpska and was used primarily during the Bosnian war. In 2005, it was integrated into the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina. SFOR still plays a large role in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of the Federation of Bosnia and...

, that squadron was the 238th. Those aircraft were used in numerous combat operations during the war.

In 1999, Yugoslav J-22s saw limited combat against the KLA

Kosovo Liberation Army

The Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA was a Kosovar Albanian paramilitary organization which sought the separation of Kosovo from Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in the 1990s....

 flying 20 combat missions. One J-22, piloted by Lt. Colonel Života Ðurić was lost on 25 March 1999 in unclear circumstances, either through malfunction, pilot error or KLA

KLA

KLA may refer to:*Kaella, a French Linux distribution based on Knoppix*KLA-Tencor, semiconductor equipment company*Kerala Library Association, professional association for librarians in Kerala*Klamath-Modoc language - ISO 639-3 code kla...

 ground fire. In addition, 11 aircraft were destroyed on the ground, most at Ponikve airbase when a NATO air strike hit one hangar with six J-22 and two MiG-21 aircraft.

On 3 June 2010, a Serbian Air Force Orao, piloted by Major Slobodan Jocić, crashed in central Serbia. The aircraft's landing gear malfunctioned, forcing the pilot to direct the aircraft into a lake and eject. The pilot was rescued soon after the incident.

Variants

IJ-22 Orao 1

This designation is applied to the 15 Yugoslav-built pre-production aircraft (including a few completed to INJ-22A Orao two-seat standard) with the non-afterburning powerplant and used for the tactical reconnaissance role with a centerline pod carrying optical and/or IR sensors. In other respects, the IJ-22A Orao 1 differs from the J-22B Orao 2 in details such as its powerplant of two Viper Mk 632-41R turbojets each rated at 17.79 kN dry and supplied with fuel from an internal weight of 2,360 kg, length of 14.90 m including probe for single seat model or 15.38 m including probe for two-seat model, wheelbase of 5.40 m for single-seat model or 5.88 m for two-seat model, empty equipped weight of 5,755 kg, normal takeoff weight of 8,500 kg with reconnaissance pod, maximum take-off weight of 9500, maximum level speed ‘clean’ of 1,033 km/h at 8,000 m and 1,050 km/h at sea level, maximum rate of climb at sea level of 2,280 m per minute, climb to 6000 m in 3 minutes 12 seconds, and service ceiling of 13,500 m.

J-22A Orao 1

This is the Yugoslav variant equivalent to the IAR-93A with a non-afterburning powerplant of two Orao/Turbomecanica (Rolls-Royce/Bristol Siddeley) Viper Mk 632-41R turbojets each rated at 17.79 kN dry, but the larger and more diverse weapons load of the J-22B carried on that variant’s higher-rated hardpoints. The variant first flew in October 1983 and was built only in single-seat form.

J-22B Orao 2

This is the Yugoslav variant equivalent to the IAR-93B with an afterburning powerplant, integral wing tankage, the greater weapons load and diversity of the J-22A Orao 1, and Thomson-CSF HUD. The variant is being built only in single-seat form, and J-22A/B production will total 165 aircraft. Yugoslavia planned a major upgrade of its J-22 Oraos with a radar and a computer nav/attack system integrated via a MIL 1553B digital database, but the dissolution of Yugoslavia and the war of the early 1990s made this an unlikely happenstance.

NJ-22 Orao

This is the dedicated two- seat reconnaissance variant operated by the Yugoslav Air Force with provision for a reconnaissance pod (with optical and IR sensors) carried on the centerline hardpoint. The type first flew in July 1986, and 35 were delivered in NJ-22A Orao 1 and NJ-22B Orao 2 forms with non-afterburning and afterburning powerplants respectively.

Former

 Republika Srpska

• The Bosnian Serb Air force formerly operated 8 J-22's.

• Yugoslav Air Force
  SFR Yugoslav Air Force
  The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Yugoslav Air Force , was the air force of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . Formed in 1945, it was preceded by the Yugoslav Royal Air Force which was disbanded in 1941, following the German occupation of Yugoslavia...
  
  

Survivors

Most produced J-22 aircraft were withdrawn from use and 16 of them are currently owned by aviation museums.

Soko/CNIAR IJ-22 Orao 1

25001, prototype preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25710, preserved at Topola.

25719, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25721, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25723, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25724, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

Soko/CNIAR INJ-22 Orao 1

25606, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

Soko/CNIAR J-22 Orao 2

25101, gate guard at Pančevo "UTVA" Aircraft Factory (first J-22 to break the sound barrier).

25107, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25118, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25120, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25168, gate guard at Kraljevo-Lađevci Military Airbase.

Soko/CNIAR NJ-22 Orao 2D

25505, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25506, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25509, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

25511, preserved at MJV Museum in Belgrade.

Specifications (J-22M)

See also

External links

• Serbian Air Force entry at World Air Forces website
• AIRSERBIA - Serbian Aeronautical Information Network
• Soko J-22 Orao at Airliners.net
• Photos at Avioni.net: Orao in low level flight at Kecskemet airshow in 2005, also here: at Batajnica airport, and here: at Batajnica.
• Photo at ABG (Avijacija Bez Granica): Orao NJ-22 in flight 1980s