Bosnia and Herzegovina had no air force of its own until 2007, but it was never short of military aviation. In Yugoslav times the republic built the aircraft: SOKO, founded in Mostar in 1950 with part of the Ikarus works from Zemun, turned out 248 Galebs, 224 Jastrebs, about 133 Oraos, 85 Super Galebs and 132 licence-built Gazelle helicopters. On the border near Bihać the Yugoslav air force dug Željava, a cavern base built between 1948 and 1968 that housed MiG-21 fighter and reconnaissance squadrons. Neither survived the break-up. The retreating JNA wrecked Željava’s runways in 1991 and, according to Wikipedia’s account, Serb forces blew up the complex with a further 56 tonnes of explosives in 1992. SOKO’s production stopped the same year; the plant was damaged and much of its equipment went to Serbia. What was left in Bosnia was a set of airfields and a few dozen aircraft, divided along the front lines.
1992–1995: three armies, one sky, and a UN no-fly zone
The war that began in April 1992 was fought by three armies, and each built its own air arm from what it could get. The Army of Republika Srpska (VRS), formed on 12 May 1992, was by far the best equipped: Wikipedia’s article on its air force says it was formed that May with support from the Yugoslav air force, which left behind a squadron of nine J-22 Oraos at Mahovljani near Banja Luka; by 2004 the same air force also listed Jastrebs, Gazelles and Mi-8s. The Croatian Defence Council (HVO) formed an air and anti-aircraft branch in 1992 with a mixed squadron, an observation squadron of civilian light aircraft and a missile unit. The Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ARBiH), founded on 15 April 1992, had almost no aircraft; the English sources checked describe no organised air arm. The United Nations banned military flights over Bosnia with Resolution 781 in October 1992, and NATO began to enforce the ban on 12 April 1993.
28 February 1994 and 1995: when NATO fought the Bosnian Serb air arm
Operation Deny Flight recorded 5,711 unauthorised helicopter flights in less than three years, but it is remembered for one morning. On 28 February 1994, by the account in Wikipedia’s article and the sources it cites, six J-21 Jastrebs flying from Udbina in Serb-held Croatia attacked the Bratstvo factory at Novi Travnik while two J-22s struck Bugojno. American F-16s intercepted the Jastrebs. NATO says four aircraft were shot down in the Alliance’s first military engagement; Serb sources acknowledged five lost. The Bosnian Serb air defence then became the real threat: a Sea Harrier was lost near Goražde in April 1994, a VRS 2K12 Kub battery shot down Captain Scott O’Grady’s F-16 near Mrkonjić Grad on 2 June 1995, and a French Mirage 2000N fell near Pale on the first day of Operation Deliberate Force, 30 August 1995. That campaign of 3,515 sorties helped bring the war to an end at Dayton.
1995–2007: two entity air forces become one brigade
Peace left two entity air forces, not one. The Republika Srpska air force kept its jets at Mahovljani and helicopters at Zalužani; the Army of the Federation, which absorbed the HVO in December 1997, flew Mi-8s, UTVA 75s and 15 American UH-1H helicopters. By 2004 the Serb jets were largely grounded for lack of money and spares. Scandal forced the pace: Wikipedia’s article on the armed forces says the High Representative used the 2002 Orao affair, which concerned unauthorised assistance to Iraq, among other cases, to push for one state army. The entity aviation units first exercised together in spring 2004; the joint armed forces followed on 1 December 2005 (1 January 2006 in the Stars and Stripes report). A presidential decision of 5 July 2006 fixed the structure, and the brigade first assembled at Zalužani on 17 September 2007.
Helicopters, not jets: what the brigade does today
The result is an air force without an air force’s centrepiece. The last jets, J-21s and J-22s from the Republika Srpska air force, were retired in 2006 and stored by 2008, and nothing replaced them. The brigade today is two helicopter squadrons, the 1st at Mahovljani and the 2nd at Rajlovac in Sarajevo, an air surveillance and reporting battalion with a radar post on Kozara, an air defence battalion with Soviet-era missiles and Bofors guns, and an aviation support battalion. Its listed tasks are air defence and airspace surveillance, but most of its flying is for civilians: search and rescue, medical evacuation and above all firefighting. The fleet, about a dozen Mi-8s, a Mi-17, nine Hueys and four Gazelles by Wikipedia’s count, is old and mixed. Wartime traditions survive by entity: in May 2026 the brigade marked the 34th anniversary of the VRS air force at Mahovljani under the calendar of the 3rd (Republika Srpska) Infantry Regiment.
2024–2026: drones, a Leonardo deal and a record fire season
Since 2024 the brigade has been changing slowly and its workload has not. Colonel, now Brigadier, Radenko Prerad took command in February 2024; the upgraded UH-1H-II moved to Mahovljani in April 2025; a Huey fought fires in Montenegro in August 2025 by decision of the Presidency. Turkey donated two Bayraktar TB2 drones in 2025, and on 21 May 2025 Washington approved a $100 million sale of Leonardo AW119Kx helicopters, six according to Wikipedia; a contract and delivery dates were not confirmed. The helicopter project now runs to 2032. Meanwhile the 2026 fire season set a record: more than 176 flying hours and about 760,000 litres of water from May to September, according to the ministry. The honest verdict is that Bosnia’s joint air arm has worked as a symbol of the post-war state and as a rescue service; as a defence of the country’s airspace it remains a radar picture and a handful of missiles, Mig Flug writes.
