Croatia approves purchase of Turkish Bayraktar drones

BELGRADE, Serbia

The Croatian government on Thursday approved the procurement of the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone system for the Defense Ministry, officials said.

At a meeting, the government gave its consent to the ministry to assume obligations at the expense of the state budget for the maintenance of Rafale aircraft, and decisions were also made on the procurement of the Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aviation system and preparatory actions for the procurement of Leopard tanks.

The package, said to be worth $95 million, includes drones and training in Türkiye.

Defense Minister Ivan Anusic said the procurement of the Bayraktar TB2 is urgent and important.

"The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia expressed the need for priority and urgent procurement of the armed Bayraktar TB2 system, and the company submitted an informative offer and a proposal for the Bayraktar TB2 configuration based on the 'total package' model. The configuration is based on six aircraft equipped with electro-optical cameras for reconnaissance, including the initial set of weapons, and ensures double radio coverage of the entire territory of Croatia in stationary and mobile version," said Anusic.

The package includes a command and control center, a training simulator, ground monitoring and control stations, ground data stations, an initial set of spare parts sufficient for 4,000 flight hours, including all necessary equipment and maintenance tools, a warranty in duration of two years or until reaching 4,000 flight hours, stay of experts in Croatia for a period of two years, training in Türkiye and transport of the entire package to Croatia.