The president of France, Emmanuel Macron, signed on Thursday, during an official visit to Croatia, the sale of a dozen Rafale fighter jets for the Air Force of that country. It is an operation announced a few months ago for which Zagreb will pay about 1,000 million euros.
With this purchase, the Balkan country, and member of the EU, becomes the fifth international buyer of the French model, after Egypt, India, Qatar and Greece. If the planned schedule, collected in the past major by Infodefensa.com,is met, the first six Croatian Rafale will arrive in the country in 2024, and the last six in 2025.
Before opting for the opening of a “legal and transparent” contest, as Defense Minister Damir Krstičevićcalled it, Croatia spent at least a year negotiating with Israel the purchase of a dozen F-16fighters,for an estimated price of 500 million euros. However, the United States, which is the original manufacturer of the devices, refused to authorize the sale. Faced with this panorama, the Croatian government came to open talks both with Washington, to try to “solve this strategic problem, in the words of Krstičević, as well as with Sweden, for a possible purchase of JAS 39 Gripen fighters,manufactured by Saab.
Finally, Croatia chose the Rafale for its Air Force, following an international tender as part of its MRFAmulti-role fighter aircraft program, for the acronym in English of this concept(Multi Role Fighter Aircraf).)
The new planes will replace the Russian-made MiGs with which the country continues to operate. This is the largest arms purchase by Croatia since the war of independence of the former Yugoslavia that took place during the 1990s. Croatian military spending does not reach $1 billion a year.