Croatia will afford 12 second-hand Rafale for 1 billion euros – archyworldys

On the occasion of Emmanuel Macron’s official visit to Croatia, on Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 November, France will sign the contract for the sale of 12 used Rafale for an amount of 1 billion euros. Croatia announced this purchase last May to modernize its air force. The trip to Zagreb will be the first official visit by a French president to this country since the country’s independence, the French presidency said in a statement. This contract is a personal success for Florence Parly, who in fact visited Croatia twice last year in less than a year. What constituted the first visit of a French Minister of Defense since the independence of the country.

“Croatia’s choice of the Rafale aircraft to renew its fleet of combat aircraft is another Rafale export success,” said Florence Parly last May.

And three in 2021! After Greece and Egypt, it is Croatia’s turn to buy the Rafale F3R from Dassault Aviation, which was offered by France. The Rafale will be armed with MICA air-to-air missiles, AASM bombs and, finally, a 30mm cannon with its ammunition, according to our information. France is also committed to providing training and training to Croatian pilots. Or a global contract valued at around 999 million euros. According to the Prime Minister Andrej Plenković, “This is the biggest investment in Croatian armaments. We are increasing our combat power capacity of the Croatian army in the next 30 to 40 years”

First devices delivered in 2023 and 2024

The objective is to be able to deliver the first six Rafale at the end of 2023, at the beginning of 2024, then a second package, at the end of 2024, at the beginning of 2025 to replace the old Aged MiGs of the Croatian Air Force, of which the end of The route is scheduled for 2024. The devices taken from the French Air Force have an average age of nearly 10 years and will have a potential for use of at least 30 years. It is certainly not the contract of the century for France but it remains nevertheless one more contract for the Rafale. And it was obtained in a European country, the second after Greece. This is clearly the priority of the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly in terms of exports.

THEFrance had submitted on November 10 an offer of Rafale compatible for both NATO and EU missions as part of the renewal of the Croatian fleet of combat aircraft. “A project that would be structuring for cooperation between our two countries, and for a stronger defense Europe”, then explained on Twitter the Minister of the Armed Forces Florence Parly during her visit in November 2020 to Croatia. And thehe French commercial offer was competitive. The other favorite (Lockheed Martin) offered the new F-16 Block 70/72 Viper (Lockheed Martin) for an amount estimated between 1.6 and 1.8 billion euros. But the American group had considerably lowered its offer to return to the competition.