Military of Croatia

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Croatian Armed Forces
Military manpower
Military age	18+ years of age
Availability	males age 15-49: 1,081,135 (2005 est.)
Fit for military service	males age 15-49: 856,946 (2005 est.)
Reaching military age annually	males: 32,500 (2000 est.)
Total active troops	32,000 (ranked 71st)
Expenditure
(not including expenditure for military pensions)
US dollar figure	$928 million (2007)
Percent of GDP (2007)	2.0%

Croatian military is officially called "Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia" (Oružane Snage Republike Hrvatske) and it consists of these branches:

• ground forces (Hrvatska kopnena vojska)
• naval forces (Hrvatska ratna mornarica)
• air and air defense forces (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo i protuzračna obrana)

Total active duty members of the armed forces number is 32,700, including about 8,000 conscripts.

Reserves number 111,000 out of which 32,360 on first state of alert. Available males aged 16-49 number 1,081,135, of which 856,946 are technically fit for military service.

Only male citizens are subject to compulsory military service at least until 2008/09.. The number of males reaching military age of 19 is 30,096 per year (2003 est.), at which point they have eight years to enlist either for 6 months in the army or for 8 months in the civil service.

Budget The Croatian military budget was approximately USD 1.1 billion in 1997 (a little more than 5% of GDP), but it has since been reduced significantly (USD 520 million or 2.39% of GDP in 2002) and further reduced in 2003 (2.2% of GDP). Croatian Defense budget for 2007 is 920 million U$D, or 2% of GDP an increase from 2006 budget which stood at 754 million U$D or 1.85% of GDP.

Commander The Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organisation of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, with consent of the Minister of Defence.

The Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime component. The peacetime component is made of active military officers, civil servants and employees in the Croatian Armed Forces, cadets, and conscripts serving a 6-month national service and reservists when on military exercise. The wartime component of the Armed Forces is additionally made of all other reservists.

The General Staff is part of Ministry of Defense in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces.

In peace, Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through Minister of Defense. In war and in case the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling orders, Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander.

The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defense strategy, defense budget and defense laws.

Projects Government plans to modernization of Armed Forces at a cost of 2.7 billion USD. Modernization calls for procurement of new fighters, new naval helicopters, new transport helicopters, 4 state of the art stealth corvettes Gowind 200, 4 Gothenburg Class Gunboats Sweden offered as apart of a JAS39 deal, 126 armored personal carriers Patria 8x8 and modernization of M84 Main Battle Tanks. Although procurement of 108 Leopard 2 A4 tanks could still be an option.

Replacement of Surface to Air systems (32 systems) and procurements of 100 light reconnaissance and support vehicles. Procurements of new tank transporters and 500 new army trucks.

[edit] Croatia and NATO

[edit] See also

• Croatian military ranks
  • Admiral flote

[edit] External links

• Croatian Armed Forces Official website
• Croatian Forces International Volunteers Association official website

Military of Croatia

Ground forces • Naval forces • Air and air defense forces

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