The first 6 out of 12 Rafale multi-role fighter jets will arrive in Croatia on April 25. This comes 2 years and 5 months after the signing of the contract with France worth over EUR 1 billion. The arrival of the remaining 6 aircraft is expected in early 2025, Hina reported.
"With a historic flight from Bordeaux to Zagreb, lasting one hour and forty minutes, the pilots of the victorious Croatian army will bring to Croatia powerful fighters and new defenders of our airspace," announced Croatian Minister of Defence Ivan Anusic on the social network X.
"In this way, the Croatian army will have modernised combat aviation, which represents the biggest investment of the government and the Ministry of Defence in the defence forces," Anusic added.
The agreement between Croatia and France also includes military cooperation, the conduct of joint exercises of the two countries' military aviation and the training of Croatian pilots and technical personnel.
The purchase of the French fighter jets has been the subject of a dispute between the government and Croatian President Zoran Milanovic. Milanovic stressed that he was not opposed to the purchase of the Rafale, but that other systems, equipment and ammunition were more important for the land army than the aircraft. He also called on the ruling party to increase the purchase price from 990 million euros to more than 1 billion euros./BGNES
