A small addition from Croatia:

Soko J-20 kraguj, impressed into CroAF service for a short while after being captured from Serb separatists.

Sorry for the crappy quality, but that was the first time I had a decent camera and was just learning the ropes.

And the PC-9M which was delivered only a few months prior:

Cheers!

Not a bad selection, though it looks a little odd buying a dozen each of Flankers and Fulcrums, it would be interesting to see how much cheaper the Fulcrums really are! It might also be interesting to see how they replace their old Yugoslav aircraft, G-2s if memory serves, along with a load of old L-39s. It might be nice to see them getting some new build L-59s or L-159s!

The Yugoslav press recently made some noise that Yugoslavia is preparing to sell a modernized G-4 to Libya… (24 pcs IIRC). This is a modernized version of the G-4 that isn’t even produced yet, as I understood it – all the aircraft in YAF inventry would be modernized and 24 then ceded to Libya who would fund the programme…

Keep in mind this is my retelling of a memory of a news article! 😀

OK, this might get the therad locked and me banned, but I think it has to be said.

Ustasa, calling your choice of nick as being unfortunate would be an understatement, a well as your position on ustase:

“because theyre the only ones who actually fought for croatia”

For the Record – the Ustase movement Never had any widespread support among the Croatian populace. The main Croatian political party at the time (From the end of the WW I to the fall of the 1st Yugolsavia) was “Hrvatska Seljacka Stranka”, HSS – directly translated as “Croatian Peasant Party”. It was a democratic christian organization deeply rooted in villages and agrarian regions. The Ustase movement was a terrorist organization. Why terrorist – because any organization that advocates the use of arms and assasinations for achieving a political gain can be clled terrorist. They CAN NOT under any circumstances be called “freedom fighters” simply because most of Croatians at the time didn’t even hear of them or care about them, much less supported them. Croatians in 1941 stood behind the HSS which gained large concessions from Belgrade in terms of autonomy – a new administrative unit called “Banovina Hrvatska”.
When Germans attacked Yugoslavia (and even before) they attempted to get the leader of the HSS, dr. Vlatko Maček, to form an “independent” Croatian government. He refused, because he was an anti-nazi. Furthermore, he went on radio and asked the people to submit so there would be no unecessary loss of life. He was somewhat of an idealist, possibly not really grasping the reality of the situation. He was interned during the war by the Ustashe puppet regime, and later fled Communist Yugoslavia.

here endeth the history lesson.

I apologize to the moderators for the extensive off-topic post, but these are tha facts, and I wanted to stop the tendency of this thread to go towards political debate, although I am fully concious that I may be adding fuel to the fire. If this post is felt to be imflammatory or inappropriate, delete it, but I felt obliged to point out some facts.

edited for spelling

Re S-300

As far as the S-300 system is concerned, the only part of the system that was delivered were the launch containers with the missiles. No launchers or any other associated systema were delivered (to my knowledge). The only time they were shown in public was on a military parade and the containers were loaded onto a flatbed trailer towed by a MAN truck. Sorry, I don’t have a scanner to scan you the photo…

The subject in Croatia is a highly political one, and Croatian authorities are currently attempting to extradite the retired general (who was a part of the deal) for embezzlement.

The rapm (Ski-jump) is decidedly lower tech than a catapult (way simpler). Usually when using a ski-jump, a conventional aircraft cannot carry as much fuel and/or armaments as when taking off from a conventional runway.

The J-10 could, in all likelyhood, take off using a ski-jump, but the question is what kind of load it could carry, and what would be the stress on the fuselage/landing gear etc…

I don’t believe the J-10 is capable of carrier use…

Cheers!

By law, accoridng to the freedom of information act, any citizen of the Republic of Croatia can request any official document for viewing unless the document is classified (either the document itself or its contents).
However, in practice, the state administration is very sluggish. Most of what does come up in the media are disposition of funds per ministry.
Getting your hands on the actual budget disposition for the Ministry of Defense would be… difficult- Croatia’s government is not very open with its financial documents…

As far as I know, tanks are not high on the list of priorities. This may change, of course after the next elections…

The T-34-85 was NOT used by the Ustashe regime. It was Yugoslav Army Stock (WWII/post WWII vintage) captured by Croatian forces at the beginning of the war for independence and subsequently used operationally by Croatian Army.

Re UAVs

The text does say that the deal for procurement is done/near done. However, if this is so, there is a possibility that laws regarding the procurement of military materials have been violated, since, by law, industrial offset is required for every contract.
The budget for next year is about to come up, we’ll see if these are budgeted for.
I, personally, am sceptical, since there were always rumours flying around that Croatia is buying something from the Israel, from Merkava tanks via assault rifles to Kfir fighters…