Général de division aérienneIn 2006 Croatia officially declared its intention to purchase 12 modern multi-role fighters sometimes before 2010. Older MiG-21s will be retired sometime before 2011 although they were overhauled to serve until 2013.
The two most talked about replacements for MiG-21s are second-hand F-16s (Block 40+) or new SAAB Gripens as a more desired option.
Sur AMN : Ciders, commandeur suprême, 10872 messages, inscrit le 02 septembre 2006, à 22 h 18
Commandant
Général de division aérienneSur AMN : Ciders, commandeur suprême, 10872 messages, inscrit le 02 septembre 2006, à 22 h 18
CommandantCiders a écrit
N'empêche, si Saab rafle la mise, ça leur fera une sacrée part de marchés dans l'ancien bloc communiste.
Général de division aérienne
Sur AMN : Ciders, commandeur suprême, 10872 messages, inscrit le 02 septembre 2006, à 22 h 18
Sous-lieutenantUS offering Croatia free F-16 fighter jets
According to the Croatian newspaper "Nacional", the USA is ready to offer Croatia used F-16s for free. This was the outcome of a recent meeting between the head of the Croatian Air Force and US military officials in the Pentagon.
A Croatian military delegation visited the United States between 10 to 19 September. Top US military officials seemed to be exceedingly satisfied with all joint Croatian-American military operations in Afghanistan.
Also, Croatia has demonstrated consistency in its relations with the USA over the past two years. It has fulfilled its promises and this bolstered its credibility with American foreign policy officials.
The donation of F-16s to Croatia would have wide-reaching security significance as it would help Croatia to safeguard the stability in the Balkan region from an American stand point.
Besides a political interest for the donation, there is also an economical one. Should Croatia decide to purchase new fighter aircraft, Sweden's Gripen looks like a more affordable solution both in terms of base price and longer term offset programs, which the Americans for sure would like to avoid.
The F-16s the US might be offering will be older, but nonetheless excellent aircraft, which are currently in storage and not serving their purpose anyways. Besides investing in a new infrastructure Croatia also have to pay the US for pilot training, spare parts and their likely modernisation.
Then once the F-16 becomes obsolete and Croatia has made a considerable investment in the Lockheed Martin jets, it will make it much more likely for them to consider the F-35 as a follow-on purchase.
Croatia currently has a dozen ageing, Soviet-era MiG-21s bought in the mid 1990s. It is believed only three or four are now airworthy.
Adjudant-Chef
Général de division aérienneAt the moment, the core of the force are 13 modernized MiG-21 bisD/UMD fighters which were sent to an overhaul in 2003 and returned to service a year later for a cost of 8.5 million USD and are fully NATO interoperable. Today they are kept in great condition and pilots get more flight hours than ever before. Some 12-15 older MiG-21s are kept in reserve but as seen on some unofficial pictures, few of them could be put into service in a matter of days in case of any real threat. Their modernization included a complete overhaul, integration of new communication, IFF and GPS equipment. Their weakest point was the fact that they had to be guided from the ground and had the capability to fire missiles only to the rear part of the enemy aircraft. These disadvantages were addressed and MiG-21s now have a full all-aspect capability and do not require any guidance from ground stations thus making it impossible for anyone to interfere or jam their missions. They are scheduled to be retired by 2011 after new fighters are obtained.
Sur AMN : Ciders, commandeur suprême, 10872 messages, inscrit le 02 septembre 2006, à 22 h 18
Sergent
Général de corps aérien
CommandantClansman a écrit
Les Fishbed ont marché sur la Lune ?
Non, je crois que le damier rouge et blanc est simplement la cocarde de la Croatie.
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blason_croate
Général de corps aérien
Commandant
SergentMais enfin Clan's, il faut te maintenir au courant, les fishbed ont marché (pas volé hein, y'a pas d'atmosphère) sur la Lune, le 21 juillet 1969, mais les Américains ont tellement monopolisé l'attention ce jour là que l'exploit des Soviétiques est passé totalement inaperçu.Clansman a écrit
Les Fishbed ont marché sur la Lune ?
Sous-lieutenantLa Russie a livré deux hélicoptères de transport et d'assaut Mi-171 à la Croatie, a confié mercredi à l'agence RIA Novosti le porte-parole de l'agence russe en charge des exportations d'armes (Rosoboronexport) Leonid Gladtchenko. "Deux hélicoptères non assemblés ont été transportés le 5 décembre dernier sur la base aérienne croate de Velikogorica. Ils y ont été assemblés la semaine passée", a déclaré par téléphone M. Gladtchenko, actuellement en Croatie. L'interlocuteur de l'agence a rappelé que le contrat signé entre Rosoboronexport et le ministère croate de la Défense prévoyait la livraison de dix hélicoptères. "Les huit autres aéronefs seront livrés avant avril 2008 par lots de deux à trois hélicoptères", a-t-il ajouté.
Selon lui, les deux premiers hélicoptères seront présentés aux dirigeants du pays lors de la Journée des forces aériennes croates, le 12 décembre.
