ZAGREB, April 11, 2019 – Croatian Navy mine clearance divers demonstrated at the Lora naval base in Split on Thursday the use of their equipment, donated by the US Navy. Croatian Navy commander Commodore Ivo Raffanelli told the press the equipment was worth more than 200,000 dollars and that the US Navy would make six more equipment donations by year’s end.
He said the equipment was extremely important for the evaluation of Croatian mine clearance divers and expressed hope that after the evaluation, “we will be ready to offer them to NATO troops next year.” He recalled that the Croatian and US navies have been cooperating more than 20 years.
US Ambassador Robert Kohorst said he was pleased to be at Lora and that one could see there that the cooperation between the two navies, with emphasis on humanitarian matters, was good. It’s good that we can continue to support our good partner Croatia in this way too, he added.
Asked if Croatia might purchase US F-16 combat aircraft, Kohorst said he believed Croatia would decide which aircraft it wanted soon.
We hope it will be the F-16. It’s an incredible plane and we hope Croatia will choose the F-16. Both new and used aircraft have very good possibilities, capabilities, so that, whatever Croatia decides, we will be pleased, he said.
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