N1 television received a reply of the US embassy in Zagreb on Friday commenting on the failed arms deal involving Croatia's procurement of F-16 fighter jets from Israel.
“The United States wholeheartedly supported Croatia’s acquisition of a NATO-compatible fourth generation aircraft from Israel, and worked to make this transfer a reality. We remain committed to assisting the Republic of Croatia in its procurement of NATO-compatible combat aircraft,” the embassy said.
On Thursday, the deal worth about 3.1 billion kuna ($477 million) that Croatia had reached with Israel in March last year on the sale of twelve F-16 C/D Barak fighter jets officially fell through. The aircraft, between 25 and 30 years old, were intended to replace the outdated Soviet-made MiG-21 aircraft currently used by the Croatian Air Force.
However, the aircraft were never delivered, and media reports in December said that the Trump administration was blocking the deal. The US insisted that the planes, originally produced by US company Lockheed Martin and sold to Israel, must be stripped of modernised electronics installed by the Israeli Air Force before getting being transferred to a third party, i.e. Croatia.
“As is common in these types of transfers, there are specific technical conditions that need to be in place to enable US approval of the transfer. We were clear about those conditions throughout, and our December 27, 2018 approval of the transfer was consistent with that message,” the US embassy in Zagreb added.
In December, the US State Department notified Congress of the stalled sale of Israeli jets to Croatia and formally requested approval for the so-called Third Party Transfer (TPT) which is required to clear the sale. After a 15-day period expired, the approval was given, but only for the stripped-down versions of the jets, which the State Department estimated to be worth $135 million.
In spite of hopes that the deal would somehow be cleared, it finally fell through on Thursday, after Director-General of the Israeli Defence Ministry, Udi Adam, visited Zagreb and confirmed that Israel could not get TPT approval for the versions of aircraft it wanted to sell to Croatia.
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