Soko J - 22 Orao 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 built it in Yugoslavia , and Avioane Craiova built it as the IAR - 93 Vultur 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 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 and the Republic F - 84 Thunderjet , then in the JNA 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 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 , 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 , Bosnia and Herzegovina . On 22 November 1984 , Orao 25101 piloted by test pilot Marjan Jelen broke the sound barrier in a shallow dive over Batajnica Air Base , becoming the first Yugoslav - designed aircraft to exceed Mach 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 Yugoslav Air Force unit which received J - 22 aircraft was the 351st ( reconnaissance aviation squadron ) from 82nd Aviation Brigade , Cerklje . Until the 1991 war , 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 , 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 . They were used in attacks on arms dealers who were smuggling weapons into Croatia . During the first year of war three J - 22s were shot down , NJ - 22 flown by Lieutenant Colonel Muse Begić who ejected safely and a J - 22 flown by Major Z . Tomić ( KIA ) from the 238th . After the withdrawal of the JNA from Slovenia , the 82nd Aviation Brigade was relocated from Cerklje to Banja Luka Mahovljani air base . In 1992 when the Bosnian war started , the JNA left a single squadron of eight J - 22s to the Republika Srpska Air Force . One J - 22 was lost during the war . In 1999 , Yugoslav J - 22s saw limited combat against the KLA 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 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 June 3 , 2010 , a Serbian Air Force J - 22 , 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 safely rescued soon after the incident .