Over the past two years Croatia signed military procurement contracts worth €1.3 billion, state news platform Hina said on Friday, in their summary of an article published by the Jutarnji List daily, which cited data from the Defense Ministry and publicly available sources. 

This is the largest investment in the Croatian military over such a short period of time ever since the 1991-95 war of independence, Jutarnji List said.

Over the past two years Croatia has purchased French-made fighter jets, Bradley armored vehicles, a short-range air defence missile system, a military field hospital, anti-tank missiles and navy patrol boats. In addition, a number of infrastructure projects are under way.

“Judging by investments, Defense Minister, Mario Banozic, is one of the most successful defense ministers in Croatia’s history. This also marks a major turning point in the way the military is treated by a Croatian cabinet,” Jutarnji List said.

While the Defense Ministry and the military used to be regarded as an unnecessary cost, this view changed a few years ago under Andrej Plenkovic’s government. The bulk of this funding, or about €1 billion, was spent on the acquisition of 12 French-made Rafale fighter jets, Jutarnji List said.