After some controversy and a lot of back and forth by all involved parties, it seems the situation with the Israeli aircraft being sold to Croatia has been resolved.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes on the 12th of December, 2018, the competent state department has sent its notification to the Congress in regard to the transfer of the Israeli F-16 aircraft to a third party, ie, to the Republic of Croatia.
As N1 reports from the US Embassy in Zagreb on December the 11th, 2018, the US Department of State has now formally informed Congress of this particular case, which now has a fifteen-day deadline for consent under the US Arms Export Control Act.
Although certain details do still need to be resolved, the State Department has expressed its hopes that cooperation of all the involved parties will lead to a final and successful resolution of the problem.
The process is that the US must approve arms sales to its partners through the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. As part of the process of making sales to foreign countries, buyers must agree to seek written approval from the US Government prior to any changes, modifications, or any further sale of military equipment to a third country or buyer.
Over the last few decades, the United States has approved thousands of such requests for the so-called ”Third Party Transfer (TPT)”, which refers to all of the sales of ammunition. Such military equipment resale is treated transparently, in accordance with the interests of US foreign policy, with a view to protecting the integrity of the armaments system. As part of this process, the TPT request may encourage further consideration in Congress if the value of the military equipment in question at the time exceeds a certain amount.
Upon approval of such a request, the United States usually requests that its partners ensure the military equipment purchased from the US or through another military aid program is returned to its original state or that any additions are removed from it. In addition, the United States often cooperates with the original buyer country to ensure that the military equipment is readily prepared by properly authorised persons before further sale.
Although the US government does not generally comment on the goals and intentions of its allies in the procurement of military equipment, we can say that in the wider sense, the US strongly supports Croatia’s efforts as a NATO member in its modernisation plans, including in terms of the purchase of the Israeli F-16 aircraft, over which there has been much ado.
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