President Milanović Applauds Procurement of Rafale Fighter Jets, but Procurement of Next-Generation Infantry Combat Vehicles Is of Strategic Importance
The President of the Republic and Commander in Chief of the Croatian Armed Forces Zoran Milanović applauds the procurement of multirole fighter jets, which represents a major contribution to the Croatian Air Force’s capabilities to defend the air space of the Republic of Croatia.
Given the obsolete MiG-21 aircraft currently in use by the Croatian Armed Forces, the equipping of the Croatian Air Force with the next-generation multirole fighter jets “Rafale” significantly increases the safety of the Republic of Croatia’s airspace. The new multirole fighter jets must provide support to the Croatian Navy in protecting the Croatian Adriatic Sea as well as to the Croatian Army in carrying out its defensive tasks. The procurement of the multirole fighter jets is of strategic importance for enhancing the overall operational capabilities of the Croatian Armed Forces.
At the same time it is a major financial challenge for the defence budget of the Republic of Croatia that has to be transparent, and its execution must not endanger the development of operational capabilities of other branches of the Armed Forces. The President of the Republic feels that an even development of all branches and components of the Armed Forces, primarily oriented at achieving the demanding operational capabilities intended for national defence, and subsequently as a contribution to the collective defence and participation of the Croatian Armed Forces in NATO peace operations and missions is imperative. This implies the development and implementation of new technologies in the area of national defence, continually investing to enhance the soldiers’ living and working conditions as well as improving the quality of the military infrastructure.
A strategic importance is the modernization of the Croatian Army (Ground Forces) as the largest and most important branch in the defence system. Without equipping and modernizing the Ground Forces units there is no long-term increase in defence capabilities. To this effect a demand for the procurement of a next-generation infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) with caterpillar tracks imposes itself to equip the Armoured Mechanized Guard Brigade. The procurement of IFVs had been planned, therefore it is unacceptable that it has been given up in the meantime without justification. Especially since in terms of the overall cost of the project and timeline of the procurement and equipping of the Croatian Armed Forces with the aforementioned vehicles, the Bradley project was singled out as the optimum and most acceptable option, something which the Prime Minister and Defence Minister have repeatedly talked about in public.
The procurement of the Bradley fighting vehicle should be viewed not merely as a project that would enhance the combat capabilities of the Croatian Ground Forces with the participation of Croatian industry, but also as a confirmation of the continuity of a longstanding and successful cooperation between the Republic of Croatia and the United States of America.