The Croatian Ministry of Defence is planning to purchase €3.8 billion worth of arms, ammunition and military equipment between 2021 and 2026, the Jutarnji List daily reported in its Monday edition.

According to the information received from the Ministry, only about €223 million of this amount will be military aid donations from the United States and the European Union.

This is the largest allocation for defence spending since the 1991-1995 Homeland War. Considering the amount and diversity of procurement contracts, it can be said that never have more munitions been purchased than in the last five years, the newspaper noted.

Between 2000 and 2020, purchases of new defence systems were “more of an incident than a practice” — 126 Patria infantry fighting vehicles were bought for €180 million, 39 military trucks for €4.5 million, 27 used German trucks for €200,000 and 16 used PzH2000 howitzers for €430 million.

The US donated 212 Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles, 10 new MI 171Sh transport helicopters were purchased from Russia as part of the Yugoslav succession process, and a contract was signed for the construction of five coastal patrol vessels, which has not been executed yet.

In the last 20 years this was all Croatia has purchased in terms of major defence systems.

As a result of change in global circumstances, the government no longer sees the military as an expense but as a need, and military commanders have been told to say what they need without thinking about the cost, Jutarnji List said.