Serbian Armed Forces (pictures and discussion)

Bilal Khan (Quwa) · Nov 9, 2019

@Dragi and @T-55 thanks for the photos!

You know, and Serbia might not have a need for such an aircraft, but it would be interesting if it tried developing a new variant of the J-22. Basically, insert a new turbofan engine, increase the payload, new radar and avionics, plus precision-guided munition capability. Develop a dedicated close air support (CAS) platform.

That said, I imagine no such project can happen now, Serbia will probably center itself on multi-role fighters.

Philip the Arab · Nov 9, 2019

Why does Serbia not cooperate with Greece? Serbia can offer a lot to Greece especially in artillery.

Bilal Khan (Quwa) · Nov 10, 2019

Philip the Arab said:
Why does Serbia not cooperate with Greece? Serbia can offer a lot to Greece especially in artillery.

Most arms markets -- e.g., Greece, Pakistan, etc -- are dominated by 'traditional' players, e.g., US, France, etc (or China in Pakistan's case) -- so the entry of younger players like Serbia, South Africa, etc, is much tougher.

Philip the Arab · Nov 10, 2019

Bilal Khan (Quwa) said:
Most arms markets -- e.g., Greece, Pakistan, etc -- are dominated by 'traditional' players, e.g., US, France, etc (or China in Pakistan's case) -- so the entry of younger players like Serbia, South Africa, etc, is much tougher.

Both are very similar culturally, and it certainly is possible that Serbia could benefit Greece in combating Turkish aggression.

Don't you think long range MLRS can be used in a similar role that Tomahawks took in '03 Iraq war? Serbia offers 285km range rockets that would be great for Greece, and Cyprus for taking out Turkish army, naval, and air bases from long ranges.

Dragi · Nov 11, 2019

Bilal Khan (Quwa) said:
You know, and Serbia might not have a need for such an aircraft, but it would be interesting if it tried developing a new variant of the J-22. Basically, insert a new turbofan engine, increase the payload, new radar and avionics, plus precision-guided munition capability. Develop a dedicated close air support (CAS) platform.
That said, I imagine no such project can happen now, Serbia will probably center itself on multi-role fighters.

Interesting timing on the J22.
Any development of a truly modern, brand new jet aircraft , (even one loosely based on previous design), would cost billions of dollars. That would include purchasing the license to a modern foreign-made turbofan and possibly other systems like PESA Radar. That's just not in cards economically for Serbia and i don't think it would make a lot of sense economically to compete with all the choices on the market currently. To give you an idea of where they are at with aircraft, they are currently pulling mothballed J22's from storage.
https://tangosix.rs/2019/05/11/srbi...aciju-orlova-nj-22-iz-muzeja-vazduhoplovstva/

As military journalist and publicist Svetozar Jokanovic posted on FB , Serbia has started a modernization project for NJ-22 Eagle assault planes. Previously withdrawn from service and then mothballed, these were specimens with very low flight time.

The photograph attached to the text shows NJ-22 of record number 25505 as it was dragged from the Belgrade Aviation Museum (MVB) to Moma Stanojlovic Aviation service center.

The two-seater J22 Eagle will undergo a general overhaul and it's service life extended during the first phase of modernization after which they will be able to fly until 2035 .

NJ-22 25505, manufactured in September 1987 , was withdrawn from service in June 1996 under the Sub-regional Arms Control Agreement under which the then Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was obliged to reduce the number of fighter jets. Until then, this aircraft had only 555.3 flight hours over 1182 flights and served in the Airborne Test Center , spending most of it's time in the 241st Fighter Squadron.

Jokanovic recalls that this NJ-22, with pilot seated in the front, was designed as an aircraft for pilot training in weapons firing and bombardment training . Now the rear cabin modifications will include upgrading the attack-navigation system and fire control system to give the aircraft a completely different purpose. The rear cabin will no longer be reserved for the flight instructor but for the navigator / weapons operator.

It is also pointed out that the Aviation Institute Moma Stanojlovic , as well as other participants in this project, have never had a more complex task than modernizing the J22 Eagle attackers, and states that nothing related to this aircraft project since its inception was cheap, including the current plan modernization.

According to Jokanovic, several new foreign jets can be purchased on the market, but the Ministry of Defense and the Serbian Army have made investing in domestic overhaul and production capacities a priority . A military journalist from Podgorica believes that it is not possible to simultaneously finance the modernization of the Eagle and also purchase new combat jets .

However, he believes that decision will not be delayed too long as the RV and PSC have to eventually find a new plane to replace both the Soko G4 fighter-trainers and the Soko J22 Eagle strike fighters. As he further reveals, contacts have been made and some interest has been shown for the Russian Jak-130 aircraft, which, according to Jokanovic, would be an ideal solution that would significantly improve training and facilitate the transition of young pilots from school fighter aircraft to MiG-29 fighter or some other more advanced aircraft. In the end, Jokanovic notes that time will tell whether the Army and Air Defense RV and Air Defense will choose a Russian Jak-130 , a Chinese L-15 , an Italian M-346, or a South Korean T-50 .

So I'm not sure what the intent is here. The Yak 130 would replace both planes with a very modern and capable platform that would be excellent for both training and ground attack. So why they are pulling these old platforms from storage i do not know.
Hopefully @proka89 can comment?

proka89 · Mar 1, 2020

Philip the Arab said:
Both are very similar culturally, and it certainly is possible that Serbia could benefit Greece in combating Turkish aggression.

Don't you think long range MLRS can be used in a similar role that Tomahawks took in '03 Iraq war? Serbia offers 285km range rockets that would be great for Greece, and Cyprus for taking out Turkish army, naval, and air bases from long ranges.

That 285km rocket system is still in development. But Serbia did sold 24 Nora B52 howitzers with 8 armored vehicles Milos (command and reconnaissance role) to Cyprus. Delivery started in 2019.

Dragi said:
So I'm not sure what the intent is here. The Yak 130 would replace both planes with a very modern and capable platform that would be excellent for both training and ground attack. So why they are pulling these old platforms from storage i do not know. Hopefully @proka89 can comment?

Who knows. Miloradovic is pushing for that modernization program, what kind of interest he has in all of that, i am not sure, but i highly doubt that it's all done with Serbian army best interest in hart. But if nothing else at least there is around 10 J22 operational at the moment, which is the highest number in recent years.

proka89 · Mar 1, 2020

Well all in all, it was interesting time for Serbian armed forces in the last few years. We had a large investment circle and it's still going on. These are some of the acquisitions of the Serbian army and police force:

9 H-145M, 5 for army and 4 for police, i belive that most of them if not all are already delivered.
5 Mi-17V5 2 delivered in 2016 and 3 more in 2019.
4 Mi-35M all delivered in 2019, with them new (for us) anti-tank guided missile 9M120 Ataka.
3 H215 Super Puma on order for police to be delivered in 2021 and 2022.
6-9 CH-92A should be delivered in 2020, armed with laser guided FT-8D this deal also includes technology transfer and industrial cooperation in production of our domestic UAV Pegaz, which should share the same optronic and armament systems with CH-92A.
1 battery with 6 Pantsir-S1M, delivery started few days ago.
10 Mig 29, 4 from Russia and 4 from Belarus, with 4 from Serbia all to be modernized, this deal includes new air to air and air to ground missiles.
18 systems of Mistral 3+ with in two versions one as the portable version and one to be integrated on Serbian PASARS system.
6 Nora B52, already delivered.
30 BRDM-2MS donation from Russia, 10 already delivered.
30 T-72B1MS as donation from Russia should be delivered this year.
2 AN/TPS-70 with spare parts from Slovenia, delivered in 2016.