Serbia, which has close relations with Russia in the military aviation field, came up with an unexpected move.
A senior official from the Serbian Ministry of Defence announced on July 25th that the country is interested in the US made T-7A Red Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft. In the speech, it was stated that the Serbian Air Force attracted attention with the price/performance ratio of the platforms that came to the fore with low initial acquisition and maintenance costs. Underlining that the USA has marketed the platforms to the international are by highlighting its light fighter and ground-attack features, the official emphasized that the unit cost of the T-7As is half compared to the current fourth-generation fighter aircraft.
T-7A Red Hawk, which can reach supersonic speed, can be adapted to the demands of the country in line with the user requirements thanks to the glass cockpit. Belgrade, which already has SOKO G-4 Super Galeb advanced jet trainer and J-22 Orao ground attack platforms, is looking for new aircraft to replace platforms that are near the end of their useful life. The alternatives that can be described as T-7A Red Hawk in the international market but which are closer to the Eastern school are L-159 and Yak-130 (NATO Code: Mitten).
This interest of Serbia, which recently acquired second-hand MiG-29 and Mi-17 from Russia, requires significant changes in the aviation infrastructure, which is almost entirely based on the Soviet school. The question of whether the pilots trained by the western system will take combat training with platforms produced with Soviet logic will confuse the Serbian Air Force system.
