Croatian Air Force is near a decision for fighter aircraft. The Force has to decide among three aircraft Dassault Aviation Rafale, Lockheed Martin F-16 and Saab Gripen.
Croatia will decide whether its air force will afford 12 Rafale F3R used offered by the Directorate General of Armament (DGA), of the new F-16 Block 70/72 Viper, or, finally, of the new Gripen C / D (Saab), to replace its old MiG-21. The decision of this competition launched in the summer of 2019 is now close, very close.
Croatian Defence Minister Mario Banožić has said that Croatia will announce the decision at the end of May: most likely on May 28, on the day of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia (CAF) and the Croatian Army (HKoV), or May 30, on State Day in Croatia.
According to the Croatian press, Zagreb hesitates between the Rafale delivered in 2024 and 2025 and the Lockheed Martin F-16, the first copies handed over to the Croatian Air Force from 2025.
France submitted on November 10, 2020, an offer of Rafale compatible for both NATO and EU missions to renew the Croatian fleet of combat aircraft. According to the Croatian press, the Paris proposal would amount to less than 1 billion euros (930 million euros). In comparison, those of the Americans would be estimated between 1.6 and 1.8 billion euros. But since then, they would have considerably lowered their offer.
The US competes, although they spoiled in 2019 the first call for tenders by refusing to grant re-export licenses to Israel, which had been selected to supply F-16s sold used in Zagreb.
