Serbia notes interest in Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk jets

The Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk is one of the options that Serbia is considering as a replacement for its existing jet trainer and light attack fleets.

Serbia would like to acquire the Boeing-Saab T-7A Red Hawk to replace its ageing Super Galeb and Orao fleets. (Janes/Gareth Jennings)

Speaking on national TV on 25 July, a senior government official said that aircraft could replace both the SOKO G-4 Super Galeb (Super Seagull) advance trainer and light attack platform and the SOKO J-22 Orao (Eagle) ground attack jets that, despite ongoing modernisation efforts, are due for retirement.

Serbia has expressed interest for the acquisition of 20 T-7A jets, the acting assistant minister for material resources in the Serbian defence ministry, Nenad Miloradović, said. He added that the T-7A, which is being developed as a trainer for the US Air Force (USAF) and marketed as a potential light fighter/attack solution for the international market, possesses “excellent characteristics and capabilities”.

Miloradović explained that Serbia was attracted by the combination of the T-7A’s price and its performance, noting that the country is looking at options that are about half the price of current fourth-generation platforms (so approximately USD50 million) and whose capabilities are between the existing capabilities of [Serbia's] assault [G-4 and J-22] and fighter [MiG-29] aircraft.

These are the initial steps in developing new capabilities as no such capital acquisition is realised overnight”, Miloradović explained. “The [T-7A] aircraft itself is supersonic and features modern avionics, and as such would be able to entirely replace our ground attack aviation and being multirole would also be able to support our [MiG-29] interceptors.