Soko J-22 Orao

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J-22 Orao
Type	Fighter Bomber
Manufacturer	SOKO
Maiden flight	November 1976
Primary users	Serbian Air Force Republika Srpska Air Force
Variants	IAR-93

The Soko J-22 Orao is a twin-engined, subsonic, close support, ground attack and tactical reconnaissance aircraft, with secondary capability as low level interceptor. It was built as 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.

Contents 1 Development 2 Flight testing 3 Operational history 4 Operators 5 Former Operators 6 Variants 7 Specifications (J-22(M)) 8 External links 9 Related content

[edit] Development

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 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.

The requirements called for an light aircraft to be built on a simple structure, using locally produced equipment and avionics (but compatible with western components), 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 Rolls-Royce Viper was chosen as the powerplant, as Soko had experience with licence-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.

[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

The J-22 was extensively used during the various Balkan wars of the 1990s. It flew many missions with an extremely low loss rate. In 1991 J-22s flew over Slovenia 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. In the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, J-22s belonging to the Bosnian Serb army were used against Bosniak and Croatian targets. In 1999, Serbian J-22s saw combat against the KLA. During the campaign, Serbian sources claim, a J-22 shot down a Tomahawk cruise missile, this representing the only successful air-to-air action by an Orao. The war ended with most Oraos successfully surviving the bombing campaign.

[edit] Operators

•  Bosnia and Herzegovina
•  Serbia: (Primary user)

[edit] Former Operators

• SFR Yugoslavia
• FR Yugoslavia

[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))

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 weight: 5,750 kg (12,676 lb)
• Max takeoff weight: 10,900 kg (24,030 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Turbomecanica/Orao-built Rolls-Royce Viper Mk 632-47 turbojets
  • Dry thrust: 17.79 kN (4,000 lbf) each
  • Thrust with afterburner: 22.24 kN (5,000 lbf) each

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)

Armament

• 2 × 23 mm GSh-23L cannon
• Up to 2,800 kg (6,173 lb) of stores, including:
  • AGM-65 Maverick TV guided AGM
  • Grom 1 Radio-guided AGM
  • BL755 cluster bombs
  • AA-2 Atoll AAM

[edit] External links

• Utva Aviation
• National Institute for Aerospace Research "Elie Carafoli"
• AIRSERBIA - Serbian Aeronautical Information Network

• Photos of Soko J-22 Orao at Airliners.net, as well as here, here, here, here, and here.
• 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 1980's

[edit] Related content

Related development

• IAR-93

Comparable aircraft

• Nanchang Q-5
• Mitsubishi F-1
• SEPECAT Jaguar

Designation sequence

J-20 - J-21 - Soko J-22 Orao

See also

Yugoslav People's Army