April the 28th, 2024 – PM Plenković has stated that new vessels are set to follow the recently obtained Rafale fighter jets, which arrived in Croatia just a few days ago.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, the next big project of the eventual third government headed by PM Plenković will be the procurement of multi-purpose ships. The Prime Minister revealed the above in a statement he made to the media on Thursday after the ceremonial welcome of the first group of Rafale multi-purpose fighter jets to Croatia. They arrived in the country directly from the French city of Bordeaux.
“I’d now say that the key big project for this mandate, and that is what we ultimately said in our election programme, is that the Croatian Navy will get its turn,” said Andrej Plenković, adding that it’s “now time to have multi-purpose ships in addition to multi-purpose planes, and that will be the next big project of our third government. We’re going to strengthen the Croatian Army,” he added.
The first six of a total of 12 Rafale multipurpose fighter jets landed in Croatia this past Thursday. The planes arrived two years and five months after signing a contract with France worth more than one billion euros, and the arrival of the last of the contracted planes is expected early next year.
PM Plenković assessed Croatia’s relations with France to be “very substantial” considering the strategic partnership that, he recalled, initially started back in 2010.
“The degree of trust, understanding, and ultimately the realisation of projects like this one raised our relations to a level that was unimaginable before, and that’s very important. Today, France is the only permanent member of the Security Council (United Nations) and the only nuclear power in the EU. That partnership is good, thoroughly thought out and purposeful in terms of protecting Croatian national interests”, said PM Plenković.
He also referred to the new aircraft, which he referred to as being “state-of-the-art” and have capabilities that mean they’re “fighters, scouts, tactical and strategic bombers and tankers with two engines”, which raise the forces of the Croatian Air Force to a level “that was previously unattainable”.
The Croatian military pilot, who flew one of the new planes into Croatian airspace, told reporters that the weather conditions weren’t ideal, but that coming to Croatia was a “very nice feeling”.
“It took a lot of work, a lot of sacrifices had to be made, but in the end I think it was worth it and I say once again: it’s really nice to come home and be a part of all this,” he added.
When asked by a journalist about the difference between the Rafale and the aircraft he has flown so far, he said that as far as the management itself is concerned, “there’s no difference”.
