According to the Croatian site jutarnji.fr, which is none other than the most important title of the country's leading press group, the authorities in Zagreb have reportedly selected the French offer covering 12 Rafale used to modernize its air force and replace its Mig-21s acquired from Russia may after independence. The cost of the operation, including the 12 devices, ammunition and training, would represent an envelope slightly less than € 1 billion. The first 6 aircraft, which will be taken from aircraft in service with the French Air Force and Space, could be delivered as early as 2024 if the final contract could be signed before the end of the year, the last 6 in 2025. The Croatian Defense Council would have, according to the site, given its support to the government to acquire the apparatuses. A second Croatian site, vecernji.hr, gives more details about the operation, and specifies that the training of pilots will take 2 years, and that the speed of delivery of Rafale would have been an important criterion in this case.
If the information were to be confirmed, and we have every reason to believe that it will be very soon, it would be a new success for the French aircraft this year, after the acquisition of 18 Rafale including 12 used by Greece in January, and the announcement of a surprise order for 30 new aircraft by Egypt a few days ago. This is, moreover, the first customer not belonging to the Dassault ecosystem, since Egypt, Qatar, India and Greece are, all 4, regular customers of French aircraft, and all use Mirage 2000s. It would also be a great success for the new French position integrating second-hand devices into its offers, relying on the extraordinary scalability of the Rafale against its competitors. Finally, it would be the first direct success of the Rafale facing the F16 Viper, presented as the main competitor of the French plane in this file, and which had until now taken over a large part of the modernization contracts of the Eastern European air forces.
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