| Croatian Army |
Emblem of the Croatian Army |
| Active | 1991 |
| Country | Croatia |
| Type | ground army |
| Size | about 17.000 personnel |
| Part of | 2 Mechanized infantry brigades, Military police regiment, Signals regiment, Military-intelligence battalion, NBC defense Battalion, Command for training and doctrine |
| H/Q | Karlovac |
| March | Mi smo garda hrvatska (We are the guards of Croatia) |
| Anniversaries | 28 May |
| Engagements | Croatian War of Independence:
Battle of Vukovar,
Operation Maslenica,
Operation Flash,
Operation Storm,
Battle of Grobnik field,
Battle of the Barracks,
Battle of the Bosnian Highlands,
Battle of Dalmatia,
Siege of Dubrovnik,
Operation Mistral,
Operation Winter '94,
Operation Orkan 91,
Operation Otkos 10,
Siege of Trsat,
Battle of Szigetvár,
Battle of Sisak,
Operation Summer '95,
Battle of Vukovar |
| Commanders |
Current
commander | Lieutenant General Mladen Kruljac |
Notable
commanders | Nikola Šubić Zrinski, General Martin Špegelj, General Janko Bobetko, General Petar Stipetić, General Zvonimir Červenko, Lieutenant General Ante Gotovina |
The Croatian Ground Army (Croatian: Hrvatska kopnena vojska), commonly referred to as the Croatian Army (Hrvatska vojska) is a branch of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia.
The fundamental role and purpose of the Croatian Army is to protect vital national interests of the Republic of Croatia and defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the state.
Basic tasks of the Croatian Army are:
- to maintain an optimal level of combat readiness of the Armed Forces
- to fight a possible aggressor's main forces on strategic-operational levels and to defend against any land, air and amphibious assaults
- to prevent, in cooperation with the other branches of the Armed Forces, an aggressor from in-depth operations on Croatian territory
- to build and develop the capability to respond to requests of non-traditional tasks that are required of the Croatian Army (floods, fires, natural disasters...)
- to assists its allies and friendly countries in time of need.
[edit] Equipment
- Infantry weapons
- Pistols
- Shotguns
- Submachine guns
- Assault rifles
- Rifles
- Sniping rifles
- Grenade launchers
- Machine guns
- Ballistic vest
- Croatian Army still needs few modern tanks as requirement calls for 104 Modern battle tanks, but due to lack of funds 84 tanks is all Croatia can afford at this point; however a long term plan calls for additional armored battalion with 52 Modern Main Battle tanks, Leopard 2A6 being a front runner, but decision on what is nearly 400 million euro program will have to wait better economic climate when Croatia can afford new main battle tanks.
- Although Croatia acquired the S-300 long-range surface-to-air missile system in 1994 and demonstrated some of its parts on a military parade in 1995, it is believed that the system was never fully completed and operational although the training of crews was sought as late as 1998. Some sources claim that the weapon was subsequently handed-over to the USA or Israel in 2002-2004. However, officials still claim that the system is stored somewhere in Croatia.
-
- Field Ambulance Trucks and 4WD vehicles (100)
- Special Vehicles (150)
- Withdrawn from service or in store
- M60P/M60SAN (45) (Yugoslav-made APCs - scrap heap and 2 in the local army museum)
- T-55 (192) (4 in the local army museum, rest are target practice and few in store)
- M-47 Patton (16) (2 in the local army museum and rest are target practice)
- BRDM-2
- BTR-60 (16) (2 in the local army museum, scrap heap)
- ZSU-57-2 (2) (target practice)
- M53/59 Praga (24) (2 in the local army museum, scrap heap)
- 9K11 Maljutka (360) (in operational reserve)
- M55 3/20mm AA cannon (54) (2 in the local army museum, withdrawn from service)
- Bofors L/70 AA 40 mm canons (54)
- | BTR-50 (26) Armored Personnel Carrier|Tracked Armored Personnel Carrier - withdrawn from active service and reserve, no longer in use due to lack of spare parts, running cots...
- T-55 (192) out of active service, obsolete and outdated, a few are still being kept in operational reserve, rest are being used as a target practice or a scrap yard.
[edit] Organizational Structure
The Croatian army is an all professional force with 16000 active personal, of which 2000 are volunteers. The Army can also rely on 8000 reserves who serve with the army up to 30 days each year.
The Croatian Army is being reorganized to fit with the NATO doctrine of a small capable force with emphasis on mobility and versatility.
With the new structure, the Croatian Army will keep 2 mechanized brigades, each brigade having a specific role to fill and different responsibilities.
Croatia achieved full NATO membership in April 2009. The defense reforms which Croatia initiated in 2000 have a long term agenda of replacing and modernizing the armed forces to meet the challenges of NATO membership. The plan calls for modernization of the Army and training standards. Replacing ex-Yugoslav/Soviet hardware is also one of the main priorities.
The Croatian army currently is evaluating the M-95 Degman Main Battle Tank as an upgrade solution for its tank fleet. There is a program which calls for a full upgrade of the tank fleet at a cost of 850 million Croatian Kuna, replacing obsolete anti aircraft systems, introducing a new NATO standard assault rifle and so on. Procurement of new NATO standard equipment is playing a significant part in the new defense doctrine and efforts to meet the challenges of future NATO membership.
Croatia plans to spend up to 20 billion Kuna (1U$ = 5.0 Kuna) on new arms over the next 7 years, of this at least 40% will be spent on the Army.
Croatia only recently operated almost 280 MBTs but this number decreased significantly due to the withdrawal of almost 200 obsolete T-55 tanks in 2006. Many have been scrapped completely, some were sent to museums but a part was stored as operational reserve in case of need. The mainstay of the force is now concentrated around relatively modern M-84A4 main battle tanks. Modernization of the tank fleet is one of the priorities set in the new defense budget so that current M-84A4 tanks can be brought up to M-84D standard..
In July, 2007 Patria AMV won a contract to supply the next generation of APCs to the Croatian Army. Only 84 vehicles were ordered at first but additional 42 were purchased in an extended contract in December, 2008. Croatia thus has 126 units on order with first six vehicles manufactured in Finland delivered by late 2008. All remaining vehicles will be locally produced. According to some information, at least 50-60 additional APCs are needed.
In early 2007, Croatia bought 10 Iveco LMV light armoured jeeps at a cost of 330,000 Euros per unit. According to official documents, 94 of these vehicles are needed by 2012 and will be ordered shortly.
As the inventory of the Croatian military is full of numerous vehicles of different origin, type and age which are not mutually compatible and are difficult to maintain, huge steps have been made to solve these problems. In 2005, the army bought 152 new trucks and jeeps, 156 more in 2006 and another 170 or so were obtained by the end of 2007. All vehicles are of prominent European or Japanese manufacturers including Mercedes-Benz, Land Rover, Iveco, MAN, Toyota and Nissan.
The Croatian Army plans to introduce a new assault rifle replacing the M-70 in 2009, the rifle will be manufactured by a local arms producer as Croatia is well known for manufacturing high quality small arms. Recently, HS Produkt developed a new assault rifle named the VHS. It is being tested in parts of Afghanistan and by the Croatian Special Forces.
[edit] Current structure of Croatian Army
Structure of the Croatian Army 2009 - Army command[2]
- Army HQ
- Armored Mechanized Guard Brigade
- Command Company
- 1st Mechanized Battalion "Sokolovi"
- 2nd Mechanized Battalion "Pume"
- Tank Battalion "Kune"
- Armoured Battalion
- Mixed Artillery Battalion
- Air-defense Battalion
- Engineer Battalion
- Recon Company
- Signals Company
- Logistics Company
- Motorized Guard Brigade
- Command Company
- 1st Motorized Battalion "Vukovi"
- 2nd Motorized Battalion "Pauci"
- 1st Mechanized Battalion "Tigrovi"
- 2nd Mechanized Battalion "Gromovi"
- Mixed Artillery Battalion
- Engineer Battalion
- Air-defense battalion
- Recon Company
- Signals Company
- Logistics Company
- Training and Doctrine Command
- Command
- Infantry Regiment
- Artillery Regiment
- Air-defense Regiment
- Engineer Regiment
- Logistics Regiment
- Basic training center
- Tactical artillery training center
- Training and operations simulation center
- Training centre for international military operations
- Military Police Regiment
- Signals Regiment
- Military-intelligence Battalion
- NBC Defence Battalion
[edit] Army Modernization plans
Croatia plans to spend about 7.5 billion Kuna (1500 million USD) over next 7 years on equipping its ground army.
Main Programs
- Procurement of 126 Patria AMV Modular APC/IFV - 1,200 million Kuna (additional vehicles might be ordered after 2012 once more funds become available)
- Procurement of 94 Iveco LMVs at a cost of 220 million Kuna. Additional 100-150 vehicles are being considered for the needs of the army.
- Procurement of Advanced Artillery systems, 18x 155 mm Self Propelled Howitzers are to be procured before 2015 to replace obsolete 2S1 self-propelled howitzers. Program is on the back burner as there are more important defense programs and procurement of new howitzers might need to be postponed for few years. Swedish Bofors Archer System and German PzH2000 are most likely candidates for this program. Cost of program - 1.2 billion Kuna.
- Procurement of 550 5-ton army trucks, 200 7.5-ton military trucks and 300 4WD vehicles - program is in a full swing and first batch of MAN (150), Mercedes (30) and Iveco (50) military trucks was delivered. Croatian Army also ordered large numbers of new 4WD vehicles, Mercedes-Benz G-Class - 160(320), Land Rover Wolf - 30, Toyota Land Cruiser - 50, Nissan Navara - 50, delivered in 2005-2007. Cost of program - 570-580 million Kuna.
- Modernization of M-84A4 Snajper MBTs and their upgrade to M-84D standard. Program calls for an upgrade and modernization of 75 existing tanks and procurement of additional 29 new tanks over the next 4 years due to a plan which requires Croatia to operate at least 104 modern tanks before 2015. Cost of program - 850 million Kuna.
- Introduction of new 5.56 mm NATO standard assault rifle. Cost of program - unknown. (20,000 rifles with day/night sights and grenade launchers are planned)
- Scores of smaller programs, communication equipment, night vision capability, electronic sensors, NBC equipment, battlefield management systems and modernization of Artillery systems with new sights and electronic fire control systems.
Other programs:
-
- Equipping motorized infantry battalion (800-1000men) with night vision equipment, including advanced optoelectronics and sensors, ground radars, thermal imaging cameras – 120 million Croatian Kuna
- NBC equipment for biological/chemical-decontamination unit – 150 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of new army engineering vehicles, armored recovery vehicles, mine clearance vehicles and armored personal vehicles designed to withstand mine blasts – 320 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of modern communication and battlefield management systems – 50 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of new logistic and amphibious vehicles – 250 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of 3-4 Artillery Radars – 30-40 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of 8-12 Mobile air defense radars – 200-300 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of Army Field Hospital - 80-100 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of 16 Army Tank transporters, Heavy Equipment Transporters – 80-100 million Croatian Kuna
- Procurement of Bridge laying equipment – 100 million Croatian Kuna
[edit] References
- ^ Patria's press release
- ^ http://www.morh.hr/katalog/documents/spremnosti%20obrambenog%20sustava%202008.pdf
[edit] See also
