Notable Variants
G-4 is reserved for the base production model maintaining its strike capabilities. The G-4s is the unarmed version of the G-4 base. The G-4t is a target tow platform while the G-4M was used to note an upcoming advanced prototype. The G-4MD became that prototype's production form and was a digitally upgraded and modernized G-4 complete with a HUD (Heads-Up Display), GPS navigation, IFF (Identification Friend-or-Foe) and HOTAS (Hands-On-Throttle-and-Stick). The G-4MD was a Serbia program upgrade with the intention of covering some 15 operational aircraft, extending their service life up to the year 2030. The G-4 prototype proper was intended for a first flight in 1992 but the Yugoslav civil wars dictated otherwise.
The G-5
There was an existing proposal for a radar-carrying version of the G-4 with improved strike capabilities to be known as the "G-5". However, the war in Yugoslavia certainly killed the prospect and the G-5 was never to be. The revised aircraft would have been a single-seat, single-engine platform with similar qualities to the G-4 before it with the exception of a broader mission scope.
Combat Exposure
The G-4 was involved in the Yugoslav civil wars of the 1990s, ultimately leading to the dissolution of the country. Seeing most of her action primarily in the beginning of the conflict and there were unsubstantiated reports of the aircraft seeing combat in the Kosovo War (1998-1999). The aircraft proved adequate for the light strike role and only three of her type were reported lost to enemy fire. One such example lost her tail to a ground-based FIM-92 Stinger short-range, shoulder-launched, surface-to-air missile and still remained airworthy enough to make it to a friendly air base. Of the three aforementioned aircraft lost in combat, all three pilots ejected their mounts safely. The SOKO plant in Bosnia (at Mostar) was left to its occupiers after Serbian moved in during the Yugoslav civil war, stemming any further Super Galeb production for the near future. Many G-4s were subsequently destroyed during the 1999 "Allied Force" NATO bombing campaign.
Current and Former Operators
Current operators of the G-4 platform include the Serbian Air Force, the Myanmar Air Force and the Montenegro Air Force. Serbia controls some 24 units while Montenegro makes use of 17. Myanmar limits their force to just 6 total with only one of these being listed as operational. Former operators included the dissolved Yugoslavia nation and Republika Srpska, the latter known to have operated just one example. Myanmar took delivery of their G-4s in the 1990s.
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