As announced on 20 may 2021 Croatian newspaper "Jutarnji list" citing "well-informed sources", the Croatian government on the recommendation of the held on the same day of the meeting of the Council of defence of Croatia, decided on the acquisition of 12 French fighter Dassault Rafale, the French air force, modified to the F3R standard, and joining with the French side in pre-contract negotiations on this issue.
French Air Force Dassault Rafale fighter (c) Nir Ben-yosef
It is reported that the purchased Rafale aircraft must be no more than 10 years old. The total cost of the proposed contract will be "just under 1 billion euros", including weapons and various equipment, as well as training. If the contract is concluded by the end of 2021, the first six aircraft will be delivered to Croatia in 2024, and another six in 2025.
The choice of the Rafale aircraft offered by France was made following the results of a long-running Croatian tender for the purchase of new fighters to replace the old Soviet-made MiG-21bis fighters in service with the Croatian Air Force, which became infamous after the twists and turns of repairs in Ukraine.
The question of Croatia's acquisition of new Western-made fighters has been dragging on since 2003, but it only became a real issue in 2015. The first international tender for the purchase of 12 fighters was announced by Croatia in 2017, when proposals were considered for the United States (12 new Lockheed Martin F-16V Block 70/72 fighters), Israel, Greece (in both cases, Lockheed Martin F-16 fighters out of stock), Sweden (for the newly built Saab JAS-39C/D Gripen fighter) and South Korea (for the KAI FA-50 aircraft). As a result, in March 2018, it was decided to purchase 12 F-16C/D Block 30 Fighting Falcon (Barak) fighters from the Israeli Air Force in the amount of $ 493 million, but in the end, the United States did not give Israel permission to supply these aircraft to Croatia.
This forced the Croatian side to resume the tender. The final proposals for it were submitted in November 2020 and now featured proposals submitted by the Governments of the United States (F-16V Block 70/72 new build), Israel (again F-16C/D Block 30 out of stock, but with upgrades), France (Rafale F3R out of stock) and Sweden (JAS-39C/D Gripen new build). It is reported that at the final stage, the choice was made from the American and French proposals, while the US offer was much more expensive.
