What about hose Zlins our airforce bought? When are we getting them?

UTVA-75s had its last run this summer for pilots selection so I guess that the Zlins should be coming before the summer to be able to make a short conversion training for the instructors and cadets selection in august.

Production line with no need for experts?:)
When you don’t produce planes for 15+ years you are bound to loose expert technicians. People do get older and retire without passing their experience. In theory they have a production line… ok… but in practice? I doubt it…

Kroejsha has been saying it will buy new aircraft for ten years.

Here’s an article from 1999 saying they bought 12 F-16’s from the US and they were to be modernized by Israel: http://www.f-16.net/news_article176.html

They say they will buy something, then they say they’re not buying, then again they’re buying… Only a few months ago there as an article about how Croatia decided to abandon their fast jet fleet and use only helicopters. Now they want planes again? Tomorrow they’ll probably change their mind again. They don’t even know themselves what they want. I’ll believe it when I see it.

Don’t believe anything you read. But is true that there was a debate on whiter Croatia will keep its fighter jets. It’s eventually decided that it will. Croatia’s President and Minister of Defense stated (two weeks ago on the 15 years anniversary of the CAF) that Croatia will be getting new fighters from 2010 and that the final decision will be made during 2007. Whether they will be new ones or used and upgraded ones depends on the budget decision.
The new option being the JAS-39, and (as I recently learned from a reliable source within the CAF technical commission) the used one: F-16C block 40 from Aviano with an upgrade (MLU possibly).

Up to date Croatians have been riding old rusty repainted coffins firing R-60MK missiles and S-24 dumb rockets at best. Do you think they care? Next five years they will be as happy with GBU-10 and AMRAAM as one can only be.

1. Not just riding but fighting with them and not because we didn’t care about having anything better… but because we had pilots for them and we ware able to smuggle them during the arms embargo.
2. They are not rusty and why “coffins”… you are, clearly, not a pilot.:diablo:
3. Now is the time for us to get something modern… so we do care (at least the pilots do, hopefully the politicians will to),

Hello Rumcajs…. do you know how is the Gripen implementation gone in the Czech R. and how was the type conversion training structured for the pilots?

Sure… but not everybody goes the lengths that the Swedes do (even 200% offset). They even leased the plains to the Czechs.

During the Red Flag Alaska earlier this year, Gripens flew 346 hours over 225 flights. The total avaliability was 99%. Four flights were cancelled due to bad weather which grounded the entire 35th Air Expeditionary Wing. And another flight was cancelled because of a faulty Litening pod(nothing wrong with the aircraft).

That’s very impressive… it’s that first hand info?
I know that F-16s can only dream of this level of reliability.

What is the cost of a JAS-39 C/D vs. a F-16 block 52+?