There is one western engine I think that could make an interesting prospect for replacing J85s, that is Turbomeca’s Larzac. It’s quite small, inlet is basically the same size as a J85(per Wiki, might be wrong), weighs around 290-300 kg. In the alpha jet it makes 14 kN, but there was a higher powered FADEC version with close to 17 kN, dry, that was proposed as an upgrade. Adding an afterburning section should not be a major problem and should see it developing close to 30 kN of thrust. It would still weigh slightly more than a pair of J85s, but would offer better SFC and more thrust.

But, J85s are cheap and plentiful and still supported by GE and they do work.

I’ll find some pictures of refurbished MiGs and post them here.

In the meantime, MOD confirmed today that they are proceeding with the purchase of 16 OH-58D Kiowas from USAF.

Croatian air force is, basically, gone.

Most of MiGs are in Ukraine, 5 months late from a refit by a shady company. Nobody knows when or even if those planes will return and the current situation in Ukraine is not helping.

AFAIK, as of now, only 2 MiGs of those left in Croatia are in flying condition, and those will need to stop flying in about a month as they run out of flying hours.

There is no money for new or even used fighters, in several past years hardly any new pilots have been recruited so there’s actually not that many pilots left.

Pilots fly so rarely that only a few certified for simulated combat(by a few it seems only about 2)

I don’t expect croatian air force to keep flying any supersonic jets in the future.

Montenegro has kept 4 G-4s

I believe 5 or 6 G-4s were transferred to Serbian Air Force, while 7 G-4s were sold to a private entity in Croatia.

First picture of Helsinkis in croatian colours 🙂

RTOP-41 Vukovar
RTOP-42 Dubrovnik