ZAGREB, March 23, 2018 - Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Friday that the Defence Council would convene next week to discuss bids for the procurement of fighter jets.
"I think that we will have a meeting of the Defence Council next week and the procedure will go on," he said at the end of a European Union summit meeting in Brussels.
A month ago, Plenković said that the purchase of the aircraft for the Croatian Air Force was going as planned and that the decision would be made as soon as "all things are consolidated".
Offers for the procurement of multi-purpose combat aircraft, to replace the Croatian Air Force MiG 21 jets that have been in use since the 1991-1995 war, were opened at the Croatian Defence Ministry in Zagreb on 3 October 2017. The bids were presented by representatives of Greece, Israel, Sweden and the United States.
The aircraft to be purchased are various models of the F-16 jet, which have been offered by Greece, Israel and the USA and which are part of their air forces, and the JAS 39 Grippen fighter jet, manufactured by the Swedish concern SAAB. The Greeks and the Israelis offered used planes.
Croatia is expected to buy a squadron of combat jets.
Several weeks ago, the media said that the decision had been made to buy the Israeli jets.
