Croatian Ground Army

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Croatian Army

Emblem of the Croatian Army
Active 1991
Country Croatia
Size about 12.850 personnel
Part of 2 Mechanized infantry brigades, 1 Logistic Brigade, 1 Reserve mechanized brigade
H/Q Karlovac
Anniversaries 28 May
Equipment M-84A4, M-95, M-80A, Patria AMV, Iveco LMV, BOV 3/20, BOV M-83
Engagements Croatian War of Independence: Battle of Vukovar , Operation Maslenica, Operation Flash, Operation Storm
Commanders
Current
commander		 Lieutenant General Mladen Kruljac
Notable
commanders		 General Martin Špegelj, General Janko Bobetko, General Petar Stipetic, 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

M-84
M-84
BOV POLO M 83
BOV POLO M 83
BOV 3/20
BOV 3/20
BTR-50P
BTR-50P
LOV-T1
LOV-T1
SLRS S-10CRO A1
SLRS S-10CRO A1
SVLR 122mm BM-21
SVLR 122mm BM-21
Croatian Army Iveco 6x6 Army truck.
Croatian Army Iveco 6x6 Army truck.
4x4 Croatian Army Iveco LMV
4x4 Croatian Army Iveco LMV
BVP M 80A
BVP M 80A
2S1 Gvozdika
2S1 Gvozdika








Note: New vehicles are being rapidly introduced


  • Withdrawn from service or in store
    • M60P/M60SAN (45) (Yugoslav-made APCs - scrap heap)
    • T-55 (192) (target practice, some in store)
    • T-34/85 (33) (target practice)
    • M-47 Patton (16) (target practice)
    • BRDM-2 (9) (scrap heap)
    • PT-76 (9) (withdrawn)
    • BTR-60 (16) (scrap heap)
    • MT-LBu (6) (scrap heap)
    • ZSU-57-2 (2) (target practice)
    • M53/59 Praga (24) (scrap heap)
    • 9K11 Maljutka (360) (withdrawn from service)
    • M55 3/20mm AA cannon (54) (withdrawn from service)


[edit] Organizational Structure

Structure of the Croatian Army
Structure of the Croatian Army

The Croatian army is an all professional force with 12500 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.

NATO membership right now is the main priority and Croatia plans to do its utmost to achieve the goal of full NATO membership. 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 riffle 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 old 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-84A/A4 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..

It must be noted that the military operates newer models of M-84 than any ex-Yugoslav country due to the fact that the production was maintained during and after the war enabling Croatia to buy the last 20 newly built and improved M-84A4 Snajper units in 2003 with new German engines. However, purchasing a number of used Leopard 2 tanks has not been rejected so far. It is almost certain that Croatia will order at least 25-30 new M-84 tanks after the modernization of those already in service is complete.

In July, 2007 Patria AMV won a contract to supply the next generation of APCs to the Croatian Army. Croatia will probably order 260-280 Patria AMV vehicles which are going to be built locally and are all due to enter service before 2020. So far, the deal is worth around 170 million USD, not including weapons. During international tender, the Steyr-Daimler-Puch company behaved in a rather unprofessional manner, at first they withdrew its Mowag Piranha from the competition trying to give a boost to its newer Pandur 2 variant although Croatia showed no interest in that specific model. But when test trials began in July 2007, suddenly they brought back the Mowag Piranha without any notice. As if this wasn't enough, only 8x8 variant of the Pandur 2 was presented to the military officials. This was perceived as a rather insulting act by the Croatian side and other than that, Pandur 2 suffered an oil leak and punctured a tyre while Patria AMV behaved superbly and thus won the competition easily. In early 2007, Croatia bought 10 Iveco LMV light armoured jeeps at a cost of 330,000 Euros per unit. If they prove themselves in peacekeeping missions, another 70 will be bought very soon. At the moment half of them serve in Afganistan and the rest are at home. The military needs around 200-250 of these new superb vehicles to enter service by 2015. 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 will be 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. New tactical and reconnaissance vehicles are also needed for the Croatian Army’s peacekeeping duties. Currently Croatia has around 280 troops on peacekeeping duty in Afghanistan and another 100 troops in other hot spots around the world. The Croatian Army plans to introduce a new assault rifle replacing the AK-47 in 2008, the rifle will be manufactured by a local arms producer, 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.



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 - 850 million Kuna (additional 120-150 vehicles might be ordered after 2010 once more funds become available, Croatia needs approximately 250-280 Patrias in various configurations)
  • Procurement of 80 Iveco light Multi Role Vehicles(LMV)at cost of 220 million Kuna. Additional 200-250 vehicles are being considered for 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 - 120, Land Rover Wolf - 60, Toyota Land Cruiser - 50, Nissan Navara - 50, got delivered in 2005-2007. Cost of program - 570-580 million Kuna.
  • Modernization of M-84A and M-84A4 Snajper MBTs and upgrade to M-84D and M-95 Degman standard. Program calls for an upgrade and modernization of 75 existing tanks and procurement of additional 29 new tanks over 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, Croatian MOD is talking to local arms supplier and testing of new assault rifle is ongoing. Cost of program - 400 million kuna (50 000 rifles with day/night sights and grenade launchers)
  • 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 the night vision equipment, including advanced optoelectronic and sensor, ground radars, thermal imaging cameras – 120 million Croatian Kuna
    • NBC equipment for biological/chemical-decontamination unit – 150 million Croatian Kuna
    • Modernization of 3 SA-10 SAM systems - complete
    • 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] See also


v • d • e
Military of Croatia