France Delivers Nearly All Ordered Rafale Fighter Jets to Croatia

As of March 21, 2025, France has delivered nearly all of the Rafale multirole fighter jets ordered by Croatia.

The delivery of the 11th aircraft was reported by Hrvatski vojnik.

The jet’s flight to the country was announced the day before. Thus, only one aircraft remains to complete the ordered squadron.

The delivery of the fighter jets is taking place under an intergovernmental agreement signed in November 2021 for Croatia to acquire 12 Rafale F3-R aircraft from the French Air and Space Force.

Ten of these are single-seat versions, and two are twin-seat. The contract also includes associated equipment, spare parts, simulators, training, and more.

The decision to purchase French multirole fighter jets was made by the Croatian government during its meeting on May 28, 2021.

According to Croatian media, the service life of the oldest of the French aircraft offered to Croatia is 10 years. The remaining operational lifespan of the jets will range from 3,800 to 7,000 flight hours, with the possibility of extending their service life to 9,000 flight hours.

The Croatian Air Force received its first aircraft, a twin-seat jet, on October 2, 2023, at the Mont-de-Marsan Air Base in France, where Croatian pilots were undergoing training.

As of November 2023, the Croatian military had already taken possession of 3 fighter jets: one single-seat Rafale C and two twin-seat Rafale B.

Initially, it was announced that France would deliver the first six aircraft in 2024, with the remainder to follow the following year. However, the delivery schedule was later expedited: the seventh aircraft arrived in Croatia in November 2024, followed by the eighth in December.

The ninth Rafale landed on January 23, 2025, the tenth on February 20, and the eleventh, as previously mentioned, on March 20.

These fighter jets have now joined the 191st Fighter Aircraft Squadron of the 91st Air Force Base of the Croatian Air Force.