ZAGREB, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- The Croatian government canceled on Monday the decision to purchase Israeli fight jets, after Israel notified Croatia last week that it had failed to get approval from Washington to sell U.S.-made F-16 jets.
Due to the failed sale, Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarovic called for Defense Council Meeting on Monday who recommended the government to define a new model to purchase fight jets.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Monday that Croatia will make further decisions in order to modernize and maintain the capacity of military aviation.
After the government session, Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic said that he personally believes that F-16s are the best option for Croatia. "I would like if we could purchase the new jets, maybe a smaller number because we have to be responsible with tax payers' money," Krsticevic said, cited by N1 television.
He said that buying new F-16s from the U.S. is one of the options that Croatia is closest to right now, but he also expects from the U.S. to make a good offer.
In March 2018, Croatia reached the 3.1 billion kuna (about 477 million U.S. dollars) deal with Israel to purchase 12 upgraded used F-16 Barak jets to replace its aging MiG-21s. It meant to be one of the biggest arms purchases since the end of the Croatian War of Independence in the 1990s when the country split from former Yugoslavia.
Plenkovic told media on Saturday that there had been no signs that the U.S. would block the Israeli offer of used F-16s to Croatia.
Only recently Croatia was informed about Washington's objection to the delivery. The U.S. would approve the sale only if the jets originally manufactured by Lockheed Martin are stripped of modernized electronics that were installed by the Israeli Air Force, local media reported.
