Banja Luka incident

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Banja Luka incident

Feb.28 1994 over Bosnian skyes, an USAF F-16 flown by Capt. Robert G. "Wilbur" Wright is firing an AIM-120 AMRAAM (Lockheed Martin illustration by K. Price Randel)

Date	February 28, 1994
Location	near Banja Luka, Bosnia
Result	NATO victory

Combatants

RV i PVO VRS

USAF

Strength

6 J-21 Jastreb
2 J-22 Orao

4+ F-16

Casualties

5 aircraft destroyed,^[1]^[2] but only 4^[3]
recognized by AFSOUTH,NATO&USAF
3 pilots KIA
1Injured
2 safe

none

War in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Sijekovac – Sarajevo – Višegrad – Banja Luka – 1st Markale – Bøllebank – Amanda – Tuzla – Mrkonjić Grad – Srebrenica – Summer '95 – Storm – 2nd Markale – NATO bombing – Mistral – Sana

The Banja Luka incident, February 28, 1994, was an incident in which six Republika Srpska Air Force-owned J-21 "Jastreb" (Hawk) single-seat light attack jets were engaged and four of them shot down by United States Air Force F-16s near Banja Luka, Bosnia.

NATO Airborne Early Warning aircraft (NAEW) while flying over Hungarian territory Under Operation Deny Flight, instituted on April 12, 1993, at 6:35 am. detected unknown tracks South of Banja Luka. Two NATO aircraft, U.S. Air Force F-16s, "Black 03" and "Black 04"^[4], of the 526th Fighter Squadron "Black Knights", 86th Fighter Wing based in Aviano, were vectored to the area and intercepted six J-21 Jastreb and two J-22 Orao aircraft who were attacking the "Bratstvo" military factory of Novi Travnik.^[5]

In accordance with the UN and NATO rules of engagement, to "land or exit the No-Fly Zone or be engaged" orders were issued twice but both warnings were ignored. While this was happening the violating aircraft dropped bombs over their target. In such circumstances NATO have a "single key" so the Combined Air Operations Center was immediately able to clear Wright to attack.

The Serbian Jastreb's were now heading northwards flying back to their base. At 6:45 am. the NATO fighters engaged the planes, Capt. Robert G. Wright fired his first AIM-120 AMRAAM destroying the first Jastreb which was flying at some 5,000ft. The remaining Serbian Jastreb's dropped to few hundred feet flying in a low level mode to use the mountainous terrain to hide from any Radar surveillance and make their escape back to Udbina. Cap. Wright pressed on, closing to within AIM-9 Sidewinder range. He loosed off two of the heat-seeking missiles. They were seen to impact and turn the Serb aircraft into fireballs.

With his missiles all hitting their target but exhausted and poor in fuel, Capt. Wright now hand over the chase to his wingman, Capt. Scott F. "Zulu" O'Grady, who had been flying top cover to his flight lead.

O'Grady dropped down to engage and fired a AIM-9M but it did not lock-on and missed. Black flight was now approaching "bingo fuel" so they pulled of to refuel on from a KC-135 Stratotanker circling in orbit over the Adriatic. At the same time another pair of 526th Fighter Squadron F-16Cs, "Knight 25" and "Knight 26",^[6] had been vectored to the aerea and take over the intercept by the AWACS. At 6:50 am. "Knight 25" manged to get in behind the remaing 3 Jastreb's He launched a Sidewinder, downing a Serb J-21.

By now the Serbs were close to international border and the F-16s had to break off the pursuit because the NATO was not empowered to engage aircraft outside Bosnian airspace. The remaining aircraft ware able to land at Udbina Air Base inside the so called Republic of Serbian Krajina.

USAF officially credited 3 kills to Captain Robert Gordon "Wilbur" Wright,^[7] flying F-16C-40 #89-2137/RS, using an AIM-120 AMRAAM and two AIM-9 Sidewinders; and 1 kill using an AIM-9 Sidewinder to Captain Stephen L. "Yogi" Allen ^[8] flying F-16C-40 #89-2009/RS^[9] of the same unit.

However F-16.net received a report from an alleged former Yugoslavian pilot that in actuality all six J-21 "Jastreb" aircraft were hit, with five shot down and three Serbian pilots killed.^[10] The sixth aircraft was said to have suffered battle damage but successfully recovered at Udbina airfield, where it crash-landed because of fuel starvation.

The Serbian pilots involved were:

Capt. 1st Class Ranko Vukmirović^[11]^[12] † KIA
Capt. 1st Class Zvezdan Pešić^[13]^[14] † KIA
Capt. 1st Class Goran Zarić^[15]^[16] ejected at low altitude, † KIA
Maj. Uroš Studen^[17] ejected near Jajce survived
Capt. 1st Class Zlatko Mikerević^[18] ejected probably near the villages of Bravsko and Crkveno, 9 miles west of Kljuc, survived
Capt. 1st Class Zlatan Crnalić^[19]^[20] landed at Udbina Airport with his J-21 Jastreb Sr.nr. 24275 badly damaged, the aircraft later re-entered in service.