Soko J-22 Orao

what is it?

The Soko J-22 Orao (Serbian Cyrillic: Oрао, lit. 'eagle') is a Yugoslavian and later Serbian twin-engined, subsonic ground-attack and aerial reconnaissance aircraft. It was developed and built in collaboration by SOKO in Yugoslavia and by Avioane Craiova in neighbouring Romania, being known in the latter as the IAR-93 Vultur. The Orao was designed as either a single-seat main attack version or as a combat-capable twin-seat version, the latter being principally intended for advanced flight- and weapons-training duties.

🔎How to recognise it: 2 jet engines · 9.3 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 1,130 km/htop speed
• size 11.1 tmax take-off weight
• built 165made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 52 years ago, in 1974.
• 🏎️Top speed is 8.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 9.3 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.7× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

jet: Gas turbine pushing air out the back (turbofan or turbojet): fast and high-flying.

spec sheet

first flight

1974-11

introduced

1978

status

still flying

number built

165

role

attack aircraft, reconnaissance aircraft

origin

🇷🇴 Romania

makers

Aerostar, SOKO

engines

2× Orao/Turbomecanica-built Rolls-Royce Viper Mk 633-47

crew

1

length

13 m

wingspan

9.3 m

height

4.5 m

max take-off weight

11.1 t

top speed

1,130 km/h

range

—

ceiling

15,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.