The US State Department approved Croatia’s request for the purchase of eight UH-60M Black Falcon military helicopters and forwarded the decision to the US Congress for adoption.
According to the Balkan Security Network portal, the deal is worth 500 million dollars and with this step, Zagreb shows its desire to fully “Americanize” its helicopter fleet.
The American Agency for Defense and Security Cooperation states that in Croatia’s request, in addition to the helicopters, there is a wide list of weapons and additional equipment, as well as training for flight and technical personnel.
Croatia currently has four UH-60M helicopters for air transport, eight Bell 206 Jet Ranger Two helicopters for training and 15 combat reconnaissance helicopters OH-58D Kajova Warrior for combat reconnaissance and anti-armor combat.
With the acquisition of eight more UH-60Ms, Croatia will have an entire squadron of Black Falcons.
At the beginning of the year, Zagreb donated 14 Mi-8MTV-1 and Mi-8T to Ukraine, i.e. all helicopters of that type that flew in the Croatian army. Of the Russian aircraft, ten Mi-171Ш remained.
Croatian media previously wrote about problems with the maintenance of American UH-60M helicopters and that out of four helicopters, two were grounded for technical reasons.
During the visit of the former Croatian defense minister Mario Banožić to America, an official request was made to purchase eight helicopters, four of which would be paid for by Croatia and four by the US government. And during the procurement of the first four UH-60M, the payment principle “half Zagreb, half Washington” was implemented.
In the original document sent to Congress, it is stated that the price of the mentioned main defense equipment and helicopters is 250 million dollars, while the rest of the list of other equipment and training is worth an additional 250 million dollars.
The list includes various equipment for communication, a system for mounting weapons on a helicopter, devices for warning against radar and laser radiation, then ballistic protection, a system for recognizing “own-other”, protection against electronic jamming, seats for the crew chief or machine gunner, as well and the ability to load equipment or weapons on pallets.
Croatia also buys trainers for pilots and technicians, and an important item is the training that will be carried out by personnel from the USA.
