Soko J-22 Orao

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Soko J-22 Orao ,Aviation museum , Belgrade

The SOKO J-22 Orao (Eagle) is a ground-attack and reconnaissance aircraft developed as a joint-venture in Yugoslavia and Romania.

1 Development and construction
2 Flight testing
3 Operational history
4 Former Operators
5 Current Operators
6 Variants
7 Specifications (J-22(M))
8 Related Content
9 See also
10 External links

[edit] Development and construction

The Soko J-22 Orao was intended as a replacement for the lightly armed Soko J-1 Jastreb (Hawk) and the Republic F-84 Thunderjet, then in the JNA arsenal.

On May 20 1971, the governments of Romania and Yugoslavia signed an agreement for the formation of YuRom, a joint R&D venture. The program was headed by Dipl. Dr. Engineer Teodor Zanfirescu of Romania and Colonel Vidoje Knezevic of Yugoslavia.

The aircraft is of a conventional high wing monoplane construction with two Rolls-Royce Viper turbojets provided as primary propulsion. During 1980s, both countries developed slightly different versions to take advantage of new propulsion technologies then becoming available.

[edit] Flight testing

The Yugoslav prototype 25002 made its first flight on November 1976 from Batajnica airfield near Belgrade, with Major Vladislav Slavujevic at the controls.

The third aircraft, numbered 003, a pre-production two-seater version, made its first flight on July 4, 1977, but was lost almost a year later due to tail flutter problems.

However, construction continued, and the first batches of pre-production machines were delivered on 1978 to the Air Force Aircraft Testing Facility in Belgrade, with serial production being set-up in Mostar, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

[edit] Operational history

Serbian machines saw combat against the KLA in 1999. During the campaign, Serbian sources claim, a J-22 shot down a Tomahawk cruise missile. This representing the only successfully air-to-air action by an Orao. There were also unsubstantiated rumours that some J-22s made at least one incursion deep into the Albanian territory during the NATO involvement.^{[citation needed]} The war ended with most Orao's successfully surviving the bombing campaign.

[edit] Former Operators

Yugoslavia.
- SFR Yugoslav Air Force.

[edit] Current Operators

Bosnia & Herzegovina
Serbia (Primary user)

[edit] Variants

Orao 1 - initial production version, without afterburners. Lack of performance limited role to tactical reconnaissance - later re-designated IJ-22 (Izviđač Jurišni - reconnaissance attack)
- NJ-22 - two-seat trainer version of the Orao 1. (Nastavni Jurišni - trainer attack)
Orao 2, also known as J-22(M) - refined version with afterburner, enlarged fuel tanks, HUD, ejection seat, and LERx.
- Orao 2D, also known as NJ-22(M) - two-seat trainer version of Orao 2

[edit] Specifications (J-22(M))

[edit] General characteristics

Crew: one, pilot
Length: 13.02 m (42 ft 8 in)
Wingspan: 9.30 m (30 ft 6 in)
Height: 4.52 m (14 ft 10 in)
Wing area: 26.0 m² (280 ft²)
Empty: 5,750 kg (12,676 lb)
Loaded: kg ( lb)
Maximum takeoff: 10,900 kg (24,030 lb)
Powerplant: 2 x Turbomeccanica/Orao-built Rolls-Royce Viper Mk 632-47, 44 kN (10,000 lbf) afterburning thrust each.

[edit] Performance

Maximum speed: 1,130 km/h (702 mph)
Range: 1,320 km (825 miles)
Service ceiling: 15,000 m (49,210 ft)
Rate of climb: 5,340 m/min (17,520 ft/min)
Wing loading: kg/m² ( lb/ft²)
Thrust-to-weight:

[edit] Armament

2x 23 mm GSh-23L cannon

up to 2,800 kg (6,173 lb) of stores, including
- AGM-65 Maverick
- Grom 1 Radio air-to-ground missiles
- Grom 2 TV/Laser air-to-ground missiles
- BL-755 cluster bombs
- 57 mm or 128 mm rockets
- AA-8 air-to-air missile
- Laser guided bombs