Croatia’s Rafales assume NATO air policing duty 24/7
Croatia started protecting its own airspace on 1 Jan 2026 with Rafale fighters under NATO’s IAMD, completing its MiG-21 transition and training phase.
Croatia News
Air
Regional / Strategy
Navy / Maritime
Croatia Swings between Turkiye and Sweden for Warship Plans
Having invested significantly in its Army and Air Force, Croatia focusses on modernising its Navy to buy two to three sophisticated multifunctional corvettes.
Expo and Air Show
ASFAT Showcases Defence Industry Solutions in Croatia
Turkish MOD’s ASFAT Inc will showcase its domestically developed land, air, and naval platforms at the ASDA 2025 international defence exhibition in Croatia.
Navy / Maritime
Weapon / Missile
ASELSAN Delivers SMASH 100/30 RCWS to the Croatian Navy
ASELSAN announced that the SMASH 100/30 30 mm remote-controlled weapon station (RCWS) was delivered to the Croatian Navy’s OOB-31 OMIS-class patrol vessels.
Unmanned Systems
Sensors
ASELSAN Exports ASELFLIR-500 to Croatia
CEO Ahmet Akyol announced that the recent Bayraktar TB2 armed UAV export to Croatia includes the ASELFLIR-500 EO/IR system.
Land
Air
Logistics
Country
Unmanned Systems
Croatian Budget for TB2, Leopard 2A8 and Rafale Maintenance
The Croatian government adopted the Defence Ministry’s 2025 budget to procure TB2 Armed UAVs, Leopard 2A8 MBTs, and maintain the Rafale jet.
Weapon / Missile
Croatia Acquires M142 HIMARS
The State Department approved a possible FMS to Croatia for M142 HIMARS and related equipment and services, estimated to cost $390 million.
Air
The First Batch of Croatian Rafales Enters the Service
Croatian Air Force receives the first six Rafales from France into service. Deliveries of all 12 aircraft will be complete by mid-2025.
Land
Israel’s Merkava has an Anonymous Buyer, Maybe Ukraine
It is claimed that the Israeli government is in talks with two undisclosed countries about a possible first international sale of Israel’s MBT, the Merkava.
Weapon / Missile
Ukraine Received an APR-40 122 MLRS from Croatia
Croatia has reportedly donated APR-40 122 mm MLRS to the Armed Forces of Ukraine to support the country against Russia.
Weapon / Missile
Croatia Wants to Buy French Air Defence Missile System
Croatia is engaged in talks with France on purchasing a short-range air defence missile system as part of its national defence strategy.
Air
Bilateral Relations
US Donates two UH-60M Black Hawk to Croatia
The U.S. delivered two UH-60M Black Hawk helicopters at Zagreb Airport to Croatia, engaged in a mini arms race with neighbouring Russian ally Serbia.
Land
Bilateral Relations
Croatia Acquires US' Bradley Combat Vehicles
Croatia inked a deal with the United States to purchase 89 Bradley M2A2 vehicles as part of its collaboration with Washington.
Air
Bilateral Relations
France Sold Second-Hand Rafale to Croatia
French Minister for Armed Forces Florance Parly announced that Croatia has just inked the deal to acquire 12 Rafale from France from her Twitter account.
Global Defence Trend Brief
- 09:00 NATO pushes allies to fill US air and naval capability gaps - Washington is pressing European allies and Canada to provide more manned and unmanned aircraft plus...
- 09:00 AI-driven drone swarms rise as a new NATO planning priority - NATO officials are warning that AI-enabled drone swarms could reshape warfare within five years, pus...
- 09:00 Counter-drone demand expands beyond battlefields into critical infrastructure - Growing drone incursions around airports, ports, oil facilities and data centres are accelerating de...
- 09:00 Europe’s loyal wingman race becomes a core airpower trend - Collaborative combat aircraft took centre stage at Berlin Airshow 2026 as European companies and air...
- 09:00 Ukraine’s drone combat know-how is becoming an export asset in Asia - Ukrainian drone firms are marketing battlefield-proven systems and swarm concepts in Japan, Taiwan a...
- 09:00 NATO accelerates live testing of counter-drone technologies - Alliance members and industry partners are expanding field trials of drone detection and interceptio...
- 09:00 Hypersonic threats keep driving demand for persistent tracking networks - The spread of hypersonic weapons continues to push Western defence planners toward integrated radar...
- 09:00 Military space resilience shifts toward larger distributed constellations - Armed forces are increasingly favouring proliferated satellite constellations over a small number of...
- 09:00 Autonomous maritime systems gain importance in surveillance and strike planning - Navies are broadening interest in autonomous surface and underwater systems for persistent ISR, infr...
- 09:00 Industrial surge capacity is becoming a decisive defence metric - Across missiles, drones and air defence, governments are placing more weight on production scalabili...
