During the late 1980s, the former Socialist Federal Republic of
Jugoslavia (SFRJ) - a country dominating the Balkans - experienced a
period of major crisis. Led by the Communist Party, the nation's
leadership failed to understand the depth of political changes all over
Eastern Europe, and then split along ethic lines. In 1988-1989, ethnic
Albanians in the autonomous province of Kosovo began demanding
independence: the authorities of the SFRJ reacted by suppressing the
resulting demonstrations. In the Federal Republic of Serbia, public
opinion slid into nationalism, which the local communist leadership
exploited to maintain itself in power. By 1990, nationalistic leaders
rose to power in Slovenia and Croatia, and publicly announced their
intention to secede these federal republics.
Under the heavy shadow of growing war-mongering, politicians from all
three sides met to reach settlements on the division of their and their
emerging nation's interests. The last few influential supporters of the
preservation of a federal state were quickly pushed aside, and the
powerful military of the SRFJ - the Yugoslav Popular Army (Jugoslovenska
Narodna Armija, JNA) - became an instrument of political games.
The Slovenian and Croatian proclamations of independence, in June 1991,
proved to be the drop that over spilled the barrel. Already split by
deep rifts within their top political and military leaders, the federal
authorities launched a rather confused attempt to recover control over
the external borders of the SRFJ. The nascent Slovenian military
resisted, causing a series of bloody clashes with the JNA.
Tasked with the transport and protection of federal employees, the
Yugoslav Air Force and Air Defense (JRViPVO) found itself in the thick
of combat from day one of this conflict, when the Slovenes shot down two
of its helicopters. In return, the JRViPVO began flying attack sorties,
which ended only through a political agreement of 2 July 1991, and the
decision for Yugoslav authorities to withdraw from Slovenia.
Hard on the heels of this drama, the conflict between Croats and Serbs
in Croatia reached boiling point, in the summer of 1991. Slowly at
first, a major war erupted, which caught the JRViPVO in a paradoxical
situation as part of it was still undergoing training, while another
part had to fly shows of power, and undertake reconnaissance, transport
and then the first combat operations. By September 1991, the conflict
turned into an ugly slugging match: Croatian forces had blocked numerous
military bases and major storage depots while the JNA received orders to
lift the sieges of its surrounded units. Amid the following civil war,
the JRViPVO often found itself forced to take drastic decisions, like
when one of its units was relocated from the Federal Republic of
Macedonia to Pula in Croatia, to fly combat sorties over the local
battlefields.
For the JRViPVO, the war in Croatia ended through a political settlement
and a cease-fire of 3 January 1992. However, only weeks later the force
was to see its final action in Bosnia and Herzegovina, where it flew
combat operations against local separatists. While another political
agreement resulted in a withdrawal of all federal forces from this part
of the former Yugoslavia on 19 Mary 1992, and the loss (and destruction)
of the major air base outside Bihac, this was also the swan song of the
once proud Yugoslav air force.
Based on the author's unique approach to local archives and first-hand
sources, and illustrated by over 120 photographs and color profiles, the
JRVIPVO in Yugoslav War is the first ever authoritative account of
combat operations of the former Yugoslav Air Force in the conflict that
shaped the modern-day southern Europe, and an indispensable source of
reference on contemporary military history of this part of the World.