A Croatian military visit to USS Harry S Truman in Split.
Croatian Defence Minister Ante Kotromanović, Chief of General Staff Drago Lovrić, Croatian Navy Commander Commodore Predrag Stipanović, and Josip Buljević, defence adviser to the Croatian President, visited yesterday the American aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman, which has spent the last few days visiting Croatia. Due to other commitments, Croatian Prime Minister Zoran Milanović cancelled his visit, reports Slobodna Dalmacija on December 10, 2015.
They landed aboard the massive nuclear aircraft carrier in a C-2A Greyhound aircraft. Croatian military leadership boarded the naval transport aircraft at the Resnik airport near Split. After only 20 minutes of flight, they landed on the runway on the carrier which was at that moment south of the island of Dugi Otok. Just before touchdown, the pilot added full throttle to the engines, so that in case of missed landing he could execute an emergency take-off. The aircraft approached the carrier at a speed of about 230 km/h. After it caught one of four braking wires, the plane stopped in just two seconds.
On the other hand, the second part of Croatian delegation decided for a somewhat softer landing in a UH-60 Blackhawk helicopter. The United States are offering to Croatia to buy 16 new Blackhawks at a cost of 18 million dollars apiece, to replace Russian Mi-8 and Mi-171 helicopters. While the Defence Ministry would certainly like to buy them, the problem is, as always, lack of funding.
After visiting the flagship of the US Sixth Fleet, Croatian military leadership left it the same way they came. Their C-2 aircraft was catapulted from the aircraft carrier with a speed of 265 km/h, which was achieved in just 2 seconds. For comparison, it is far greater acceleration than in Formula 1, where cars need as many as 10 seconds to reach speeds of up to 300 km/h.
