Every war fought by the air arms of Bosnia and Herzegovina
The brigade itself, formed in 2007, has not fought a war. The record here is of 1992–1995, when the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Croatian Defence Council and the Army of Republika Srpska each built an air arm, and of the NATO operations over the country; each account is attributed to its source, and where the sides give different figures both are shown. Where a consolidated sortie or loss figure exists in the official record it is given here; where accounts disagree, the range is shown and the disagreement named. Blank cells are blank because no figure could be verified, not because the fighting was small.
From the war of 1992–1995, when three armies and NATO flew over the country, to peace support missions today.
| Conflicto | Años | Contra | Avión principal | Salidas | Avión perdido | |
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| Bosnian War: the air arms of the three armiesVRS, HVO and ARBiH aviationAir Force and Air Defence of the Army of Republika Srpska (RV i PVO VRS); HVO Air Forces and Anti-aircraft Artillery; aviation of the ARBiH | 1992–1995 | J-22 Orao, J-21 Jastreb, G-4 Super Galeby 3 más | ||||
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Mostly helicopter transport, with limited ground attack by the VRS air force and extensive surface-to-air defence by VRS units. The three armies of the Bosnian War started from very different places in the air. The VRS inherited Yugoslav equipment: Wikipedia’s article on the J-22 says the JNA left a squadron of nine Oraos to Republika Srpska at Mahovljani near Banja Luka, and a 1995 order of battle by Tim Ripley, cited there, lists a 92nd Air Brigade at Banja Luka and an 11th Helicopter Regiment at Zalužani. The HVO formed an air and anti-aircraft branch in 1992, with an 11th Combined Squadron of helicopters and transports, a 121st Observation Squadron of civilian light aircraft and a 14th Anti-aircraft Missile Unit. The Bosniak-led ARBiH, founded without heavy weapons, had no organised air arm in the English sources checked, though government helicopters did fly into besieged areas such as the Bihać pocket. The UN banned military flights in October 1992 and NATO enforced the ban from April 1993, so most wartime flying by all three was, in UN terms, a violation. Air power in this war was decisive mostly when it was NATO’s. Resultado The war ended with the Dayton agreement, initialled on 21 November and signed on 14 December 1995; the air arms became entity forces. Details of HVO and ARBiH aircraft, unit dates and losses could not be corroborated and are left out. The Ripley order of battle is secondary and was seen only as cited by Wikipedia.
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| The Banja Luka incidentNATO’s first air combatSerb air units (J-21 and J-22 from Udbina); aircraft and pilots from both the Croatian Serb and Bosnian Serb forces per Wikipedia | 1994 | NATO (US Air Force F-16s) | J-21 Jastreb, J-22 Orao | 8 | 4 | |
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Ground attack against arms factories at Novi Travnik and Bugojno inside the UN no-fly zone. Early on 28 February 1994, according to Wikipedia’s article and the works it cites (Dimitrijević 2021, Haulman 2009 and the CIA’s Balkan Battlegrounds), six J-21 Jastrebs took off from Udbina in the Serb-held Krajina and attacked the Bratstvo arms factory at Novi Travnik, while two J-22 Oraos attacked the Slavko Rodić plant at Bugojno. US F-16Cs of the 526th Fighter Squadron patrolling for Deny Flight intercepted the Jastrebs. NATO states that four aircraft violating the no-fly zone were shot down in the Alliance’s first military engagement. The USAF credited Captain Robert Wright with three and Captain Stephen Allen with one; the Serb side acknowledged five Jastrebs lost. Wikipedia says the surviving pilots were decorated after a commission looked at tactical mistakes. The raid showed that the no-fly zone could be enforced by force. Resultado The two J-22s reached Udbina undamaged; the incident became NATO’s first combat engagement. Four (NATO, USAF) versus five (Serb acknowledgment) aircraft lost; pilot casualties are from Wikipedia’s account and were not confirmed from an official Serb or NATO source. Whether each aircraft belonged to the Republika Srpska or Krajina air force is not settled in the sources checked.
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| VRS air defence against Operation Deny FlightGoražde 1994 and Mrkonjić Grad 1995Air Force and Air Defence of the Army of Republika Srpska | 1994–1995 | OTAN | 2K12 Kub (SA-6) and shoulder-fired missiles | |||
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Surface-to-air missile defence against NATO aircraft enforcing the no-fly zone and supporting UN forces. From 1994 the Serb air arm in Bosnia was more dangerous on the ground than in the air. Wikipedia’s Deny Flight article records a British Sea Harrier from HMS Ark Royal shot down by a surface-to-air missile near Goražde on 16 April 1994; the pilot ejected and was recovered. On 2 June 1995, according to the Wikipedia articles on Scott O’Grady and the Mrkonjić Grad incident, a Bosnian Serb army 2K12 Kub battery near Mrkonjić Grad fired two missiles at a pair of F-16s and hit O’Grady’s aircraft. He evaded capture for six days and was picked up by US Marines on 8 June. Three months later, attacks on the Bosnian Serb air defence network were among the first missions of Operation Deliberate Force. Resultado NATO kept flying, but the missile threat shaped its tactics until the Deliberate Force campaign attacked the air defence network. Sources differ on details: Wikipedia’s Deny Flight article gives O’Grady’s rescue as 6 June, the O’Grady and Mrkonjić Grad articles 8 June; his squadron is given as the 555th (O’Grady article) or 510th (Mrkonjić Grad article). The unit that downed the Sea Harrier is not named in the sources checked.
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| Operación Fuerza DeliberadaNATO against the VRSAir Force and Air Defence of the Army of Republika Srpska (as the target) | 1995 | OTAN | Surface-to-air missiles, anti-aircraft artillery | |||
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Defended the VRS integrated air defence network against NATO strikes. NATO launched Deliberate Force on 30 August 1995, after the shelling of a Sarajevo market on 28 August, which NATO attributed to the VRS; the Bosnian Serb position on that attribution was not covered by the sources checked. Among the first targets was the Bosnian Serb integrated air defence network of radars, missiles and command posts, which Wikipedia’s article describes as a significant challenge. On the first day a French Mirage 2000N was shot down near Pale by a shoulder-fired missile; its crew, Lieutenant José Souvignet and Captain Frédéric Chiffot, were captured by Bosnian Serb forces and released on 12 December 1995. By 20 September NATO had flown 3,515 sorties. The campaign destroyed much of what the VRS air defence had built since 1992, and it set the terms under which Republika Srpska’s air arm survived after Dayton: as a small entity force under international supervision. Resultado NATO and UN operations ended on 20 September 1995; the campaign is widely credited, including in Wikipedia’s summary, with helping to force the Dayton negotiations. Casualty figures are as given in Wikipedia’s article and were not confirmed from NATO or VRS records.
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| Shoot-down of the Ljubijankić helicopterCetingrad, 28 May 1995Government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (operator not confirmed) | 1995 | Croatian Serb (Krajina) forces, per Wikipedia | Helicopter | 1 | 1 | |
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Liaison flight from besieged Bihać to Zagreb. Flights in and out of the Bihać pocket were one of the few ways the Sarajevo government could reach its forces in the north-west. On 28 May 1995, according to Wikipedia’s article on him, Foreign Minister Irfan Ljubijankić was flying from Bihać to Zagreb on government business when his helicopter was shot down by a missile over Cetingrad, in Serb-held Croatia; all seven aboard were killed. Wikipedia attributes the shoot-down to the Serb rebels holding the area. Resultado The helicopter was destroyed and all aboard killed. The helicopter type, its operator (ARBiH or civil government) and the unit that fired were not confirmed in the sources checked.
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| Peace support missionsIraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and MaliAir Force and Air Defence Brigade personnel | 2005– | 0 | ||||
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Brigade personnel served in contingents and UN missions; no BiH aircraft deployed. The brigade’s official history says its members, aviation specialists included, served first in Iraq and then in Afghanistan, and in the UN missions in Eritrea and Mali. It gives no dates or numbers, and no Bosnian aircraft has deployed abroad on a military operation. The only foreign flying deployment found was humanitarian: in August 2025 a Huey II fought wildfires in Montenegro. Resultado Ongoing participation in international missions. Dates and numbers of personnel were not given by the official history; start year left open. |
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Cada cifra, verificada
- OS BiH: Historijat Brigade ZS i PZOOfficial history: first joint exercise of entity aviation in spring 2004; 2005 Defence Law; presidential decision of 5 July 2006; brigade established September 2007, first assembly at Zalužani barracks on 17 September 2007; unit locations; aviation personnel in Iraq, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Mali.
- OS BiH: Uspješno obavljena misija pomoći stanovništvu u Crnoj Gori (20 August 2025)UH-1H II of the 2nd Helicopter Squadron in Montenegro 13–18 August 2025 by decision of the BiH Presidency: 11 flights, 157 tonnes of water, six crew.
- NATO: Peace support operations in Bosnia and HerzegovinaDeny Flight from April 1993; on 28 February 1994 four aircraft violating the no-fly zone were shot down in NATO’s first military engagement; air operations of August–September 1995; IFOR and SFOR.
Cifras verificadas el 30 de septiembre de 2026. Back to the Air Force and Anti-Aircraft Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.