Following the receipt of bids from four countries (USA, Sweden, France and Israel), the Interagency Commission for the Procurement of a Multirole Fighter Aircraft officially completed the evaluation of bids on 12 December 2020 and sent a Feasibility Study for the Procurement of a Multirole Fighter Aircraft to the Prime Minister on 21 December.
On the basis of a comprehensive and multi-criteria expert analysis contained in the study the Interagency Commission also unanimously adopted a conclusion on the best bid. The Commission considered two bids for the new aircraft (US F‑16 Block 70 and Swedish Gripen C/D) and two bids for used aircraft (French Rafale F3‑R and Israeli F‑16 Block 30). All bids were thoroughly and accurately evaluated within three domains: strategic domain, capability domain and financial domain.
To protect the integrity of the process, this data is classified.
At the beginning of next year, the findings of the Feasibility Study will be presented to the Committee for Defence of the Croatian Parliament, after which the Government will make its final decision on the selection of a multirole fighter aircraft. After that, the phase of drafting an intergovernmental agreement with the government of the state whose bid will be selected will begin, so that the agreement can be concluded by the end of 2021 at the latest.
With the purchase of a multirole fighter aircraft, Croatia will get 12 modern 4th generation aircraft (10 in a one-seat and 2 in a two-seat configuration) for the next three decades, which will replace the MiG-21, whose resources expire at the end of 2024.
By doing so, as member of NATO, Croatia will not only preserve the capabilities of the Croatian Air Force, but will also significantly improve them and be able to protect its airspace and territorial integrity much more effectively.
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