Croatia is looking to purchase fighter aircraft for the country’s air force and is soon expected to send the Request for Proposal to five countries – Sweden, the U.S, South Korea, Israel and Greece.

The ministry said in a press release last week that coming week Croatian Ministry of Defence will send a formal RfP for – Swedish Gripen JAS-39, the U.S F-16, South Korean FA-50, Israeli F-16 and Greece F-16 fighter jets.

The proposals will be scrutinised based on the aircraft characteristics and capabilities as well as on three key parameters: the bilateral agreement, the price and the business and economy co-operation deal. Croatia aims to promote co-operation at the country level, as the aircraft procurement is a complex and pluriannual deal and entails strategic partnership, the release states.

The criteria regarding the price will be the overall price of the package and the payment modalities.

“In view of the complexity and demanding nature of the project the Ministry of Defence staff analysed the experiences of other NATO nations faced with the need of replacement or modernisation of the combat component, namely Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia,” the release says.

The ministry hopes the first new jets could become part of the Croatian air force by the end of 2020 if a decision on the acquisition is taken this year.