During the Yugoslav Wars, most of these bases were used by the Serbs in certain operations, but due to extenuating circumstances imposed by the Croat forces, they were destroyed and later rendered useless for military use.

An example of some that are still in use is the D-0 Armijska Ratna Komanda nuclear bunker in Konjic, however the latter was turned into an art complex, but is still owned by the Ministry of Defence of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The construction of the Željava or Bihać Air Base (code named "Objekat 505") was inspired by mountain hangars used by the Swedish Göta Wing (F 9),[1] began in 1948 and was completed in 1968.

During those two decades, SFRY spent approximately $6 billion on its construction,[2] three times the combined current annual military budgets of Serbia and Croatia.

The main advantage of the base was the strategic location of its "Celopek" intercept and surveillance radar on Mount Plješevica, at the nerve center of an advanced integrated air defence network covering the airspace and territory of Yugoslavia, and possibly further.

Above ground, the facility had five runways and within the immediate vicinity of the base, there were numerous short-range mobile tracking and targeting radars; surface-to-air missile sites equipped with; 2K12 "Kub" (NATO: SA-6) mobile surface-to-air missile interceptor systems, motorized infantry bases, two Quick Reaction Alert aircraft ready for take off at any moment, military police stations, and a hunting lodge used by civilian and military leaders on occasional leisure trips.

To prevent any possible further use of the complex by Croatian and Bosnia-Herzegovinan forces, the Serbian Army of Krajina completed the destruction in 1992 by setting off an additional 56 tonnes of explosives.

A facility for asylum seekers was scheduled to open there in 2004 or 2005, but the idea was abandoned, and new plans were developed for it to become part of the Slunj military training grounds, and barracks from the nearby Udbina complex.