The first six of a total of twelve Rafale multi-role combat aircraft will arrive in Croatia on Thursday, two years and five months after the signing of a contract with France worth over one billion euros. The remaining contracted aircraft are expected to arrive early next year.

“With a historic flight from Bordeaux to Zagreb, lasting one hour and forty minutes, the pilots of the victorious Croatian Armed Forces will bring powerful combat aircraft and new guardians of our airspace to Croatia,” Defence Minister Ivan Anusic said two days ago on the X social media platform.

The Croatian Armed Forces will thus have a modernised fighter aircraft fleet, which represents the largest investment of the government and the Ministry of Defence in the defence forces, the minister said.

Eight aircraft are expected to be in Croatia by the end of this year

The decision to purchase Rafale fighter jets was made by the government on 28 May 2021, with the Ministry of Defence tasked with carrying out all necessary measures with a view to concluding a contract between Croatia and France. This contract was signed on 25 November of the same year by the then Minister of Defence Mario Banozic and the French Minister of Defence Florence Parly during the official visit of French President Emmanuel Macron to Croatia.

A total of 1.13 billion euros has been allocated from the state budget for the purchase of the Rafale for the years 2021 to 2026. Around 225 million euros are earmarked for this year, 65 million euros for the following year, while around 18 million euros will be allocated from the budget for 2026.

The handover of the first Rafale aircraft took place on 2 October last year at the French airbase in Mont-de-Marsan. Eight aircraft are expected to be in Croatia by the end of this year, with the remaining four expected by the end of the first quarter of 2025.

The agreement between Croatia and France also includes military cooperation, joint air force exercises between the two countries and the training of Croatian pilots and technical personnel. At the end of January 2023, the first group of pilots was sent to the aforementioned French base for a 15-month training programme. According to the Ministry of Defence, around 90 members of the armed forces with various specialisations have completed the Rafale training programme to date.

The training of pilots of multi-role combat aircraft from allied and partner countries is also to take place in Croatia, at the Fighter Pilot Training Centre (FPTC), the establishment of which is supported by the government and which is scheduled to begin operations in 2026.

Plenkovic: Thanks to the Rafale, Croatia will have the strongest air force in this part of Europe

The ceremony to mark the arrival of the first group of multi-role combat aircraft will take place at the “Colonel Marko Zivkovic” barracks in Pleso, where new buildings for simulators and squadrons, a maintenance hangar, engine maintenance buildings, a spare parts warehouse and a hangar to house the aircraft have been built on a complex totalling around 20,000 square metres. The value of the entire complex is estimated at around 37 million euros.

The purchase of the French fighter jets was the subject of a dispute between the government and President Zoran Milanovic. Milanovic emphasised that he was not against the purchase of the Rafale, but that other systems, equipment and ammunition for the ground forces were more important than aircraft. He also criticised the government for increasing the purchase price from 990 million euros to over one billion euros.

On the other hand, the government has emphasised since the contract was signed that this is the most modern type of multi-role combat aircraft currently in service with the French army and will be useful for the next 40 years. Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic stated that thanks to the Rafale, Croatia will have “the strongest air force in this part of Europe”.