ZAGREB, December 11, 2018 - Commenting on the latest developments regarding the purchase of F-16 fighter jets from Israel, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said on Tuesday that "the government does not consider the situation to be in any way burdensome for Croatia."

"Last year we sent special delegations to both Israel and the United States and before the government made its decision, there had been no indications of any problem. The burden of obtaining consent from the United States for the delivery of the planes was taken on by the Israeli side. Croatia did everything in good faith, in line with the rules and tender procedure. At this moment, this is a matter of relations between Israel and the United States," Plenković said.

"We will either buy the planes that were originally offered or the tender will be declared null and void, there is no dilemma about it and any other solution .... is out of the question," Plenković said.

Asked if this was a stain for Croatia as a small country depending on the will of big powers, Plenković said that such an attitude "trivialises this topic."

"I will not allow that to happen. As far as the team who was working on this is concerned, things were done professionally and at the moment the decision was made, there were no indications of any problem," Plenković said.

Israel committed itself in writing that it would obtain the US government's approval for the delivery of fighter jets to Croatia and that is exclusively Israel's responsibility, the Croatian Defence Ministry said last Friday and added that if any official notice were to arrive, the public would be informed.

Earlier that day the US Embassy in Zagreb said that it was cooperating with Croatia and Israel on finding an acceptable solution that would enable the confirmation of the agreement on the purchase of Israeli F-16 fighter jets.

The US Embassy said that it had been cooperating with Israel for more than a year regarding the details of the proposed agreement on the purchase of the jets.

The Israeli media have reported that Washington is angry because it believes that by upgrading the electronic systems in the US-made aircraft, Israel has unfairly profited from their sale to Croatia.

The Croatian government in March decided to buy 12, about 30-year-old F-16 Barak fighter jets from Israel. The planes will cost Croatia 2.9 billion kuna over a period of ten years.

More news on Croatia’s military can be found in our Politics section.

ZAGREB, December 9, 2018 - Defence Minister Damir Krstičević has said that Croatia will not pay any additional costs for the purchase of 12 F-16 fighter jets from Israel after the U.S. insistence that Israel must comply with the technical criteria Washington set in order to okay Croatia’s fighter jet purchase from Israel.

The planes, which are the subject matter of the procurement deal and which were produced by the U.S. Lockheed Martin, have subsequently got sophisticated electronic systems which Israel has added to them, and Washington now insists that they should be reversed to the previous form.

Israeli media have reported that US Secretary of Defence James Mattis is not allowing Israel to sell 12 F-16 fighter jets to Croatia. The US administration must give its consent to the country to which it has sold its planes if that country wants to sell them to a third country.

Asked by the press on Saturday whether Israel or Croatia would cover the costs of those planned technical changes, Minister Krstičević said that there were no additional costs for his country. "The tender is clear. The tender has been transparent and in line with laws. We know what we have asked for. The bids were opened publicly. The price is known. As far as Croatian is concerned, there are no additional costs," Krstičević said after attending a gathering of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) youth association's meeting.

Asked whether he would resign in the event that this deal failed, the minister said that he would not answer hypothetical questions.

He went on to say that Croatia was given the documentation showing that the U.S. Administration allowed Israel to offer its F-16 planes to Croatia.

On Friday, when the news broke out about the complications in the delivery of the fighter jets over the U.S. requirements set to Israel, Krstičević recalled that the U.S. government had given Israel permission to offer the Israeli F-16 jets to Croatia. "We have a document to that effect. In its bid, Israel undertook to deliver to Croatia aircraft that is compatible with NATO and obliged itself to ensure that the extension of the planes' service life complies with the original manufacturer's criteria. Delivery, too, is the responsibility of the State of Israel. Based on those documents and the tender, we made the decision on the purchase of the multipurpose fighter jets and the process was legal and transparent," Krstičević said yesterday.

In late March, the Croatian government unanimously adopted a decision to buy 12 F-16 C/D Barak jets that were about 30 years old. Croatia is supposed to pay 2.9 billion kuna for the planes over a period of ten years.

More news on the Croatian military can be found in our dedicated section.

ZAGREB, December 8, 2018 - The US Ambassador to Croatia, Robert Kohorst, commented on Friday on the problem regarding the sale of modified Israeli F-16 fighter jets to Croatia, saying that Israel has to accept the set technical requirements for the American side to agree to the sale of 12 fighter jets, and adding that this debate has to do with who owns the rights to the technical and intellectual property.

"The Israelis need to accept the technical requirements and as soon as that's done, we can move forward and the sale can go through," Kohorst said at a farewell ceremony for the outgoing Israeli Ambassador Zina Kalay Kleitman.

According to Kohorst, "the United States has consistently said what the technical requirements are for more than two years and everyone should have known that these are the technical requirements and so it's a bit of a surprise to me that there is this slowdown right now."

He also explained that "the debate is who will pay for the conversion because the USA and its contractors Lockheed Martin have to do the work because they're the ones who own the technology and intellectual property."

"Well, I'm not involved in the negotiations, and I don't think they really have a choice because this is intellectual property of Lockheed Martin and they need to give their approval to do the transfer," the US ambassador told reporters.

Asked whether Israel had withheld information that it had inbuilt its own sophisticated electronic system, Kohorst said: "I don't know what their negotiation strategy was." "I'm sure that they in good faith made an offer," he said and underscored Croatia, the United States and Israel are "great allies" and will resolve this problem.

Israel's ambassador said that she hoped a positive outcome would be found in the interest of the United States and Israel for the technical problem to be resolved. We are all interested in finding a solution and I'm convinced that it will be so, Ambassador Kleitman said, calling for patience. I hope that everything will be resolved by the end of the year.

Her four-year term expires a month from now.

For more on Croatia’s attempts to buy the fighter jets, click here.

ZAGREB, December 7, 2018 - The US Embassy in Zagreb said on Friday that it was cooperating with Croatia and Israel on finding an acceptable solution that would enable the confirmation of an agreement on the purchase of Israeli F-16 fighter jets by Croatia, following reports in the Israeli media that the US was blocking the F-16 sale.

Israeli media have reported that US Secretary of Defence James Mattis is not allowing Israel to sell 12 F-16 fighter jets to Croatia. The US administration must give its consent to the country to which it has sold its planes if that country wants to sell them to a third country.

The US Embassy said in a statement today that it has been cooperating with Israel for more than a year regarding the details of the proposed agreement on the purchase of F-16 jets. The US side says that during the talks it has been consistent and clear on technical conditions under which it would be willing to agree to the conclusion of the agreement. The embassy said that it was currently cooperating with Israel and Croatia on agreeing an acceptable option that meets Croatia's needs for the set time period.

The Israeli media have reported that Washington is angry because it believes that by upgrading the electronic systems in the US-made aircraft, Israel has unfairly profited from their sale to Croatia.

The Croatian government in March decided to buy 12, about 30-year-old F-16 Barak fighter jets from Israel. Previously, in the summer of 2017 it sent a request for the purchase of aircraft to five countries - the USA, Sweden, Greece, South Korea and Israel. In October 2017, bids were opened and the Israeli offer was selected as the most favourable.

Croatian Defence Minister Damir Krstičević said on Friday that Croatia had not received any official notification that the USA was blocking the delivery of Israeli F-16 jets to Croatia.

In a statement to the press, the minister said that Croatia was not familiar with the information published by Israeli media that US Secretary of Defence James Mattis was not allowing Israel to sell 12 F-16 fighter jets to Croatia.

"The news about that was published on Thursday evening. Croatia has not received any official notification. When we receive it, we will inform the public accordingly," Krstičević told reporters during a visit to Split.

Krstičević recalled that the US government had given Israel permission to offer the Israeli F-16 jets to Croatia. "We have a document to that effect. In its bid, Israel undertook to deliver to Croatia aircraft that is compatible with NATO and obliged itself to ensure that the extension of the planes' service life complies with the original manufacturer's criteria. Delivery, too, is the responsibility of the State of Israel. Based on those documents and the tender, we made the decision on the purchase of the multipurpose fighter jets and the process was legal and transparent," said Krstičević.

The Croatian government on March 29 unanimously adopted a decision to buy 12 F-16 C/D Barak jets that were about 30 years old. Croatia will pay 2.9 billion kuna for the planes over a period of ten years.

For more on the Croatian air force, click here.

While the celebrations have moved from Zagreb to other towns, the Croatian Air Force has released two videos from the main event.

ZAGREB, February 16, 2018 - Croatian Defence Minister Damir Krstičević said on Thursday, when asked if there might be difficulties if Croatia selected Israeli fighter jets given the political crisis in Israel, that Croatia was considering the bids at state level, making arrangements with a state, so it did not matter who was in power. There is a possibility that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu might be indicted soon.

The cooperation would include eight megaprojects.

According to reports in Israeli media, Israeli and Croatian prime ministers discussed the deal yesterday at Davos.

A dose of history today as the Croatian Air Force mounts a replica cannon with enormous historical significance on Lovrijenac fortress.

The final decision on the selection of multi-purpose combat aircraft should be made soon.