The collapse of Croatian Air Force: The Army is on the verge of collapse!
There were perhaps the least investments in Croatian soldier, and that trend lead to the critical shortage of flying and technical staff in Croatian air force
All 16 combat helicopters "Kiowa" arrived to Croatia recently, and Croatian president announced at the end of the year possible purchase of Western helicopters, "Black Hawk" and pleaded for the procurement of new combat aircraft.
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Defense Minister Damir Krsticevic, however, said that Croatia simply must have new hunters. The modernization of the Serbian Army has taken hold with the possible introduction of up to 22 MiG-29, writes "Jutarnji list".
But already implemented and announced modernization won't improve the readiness of the Armed Forces of Croatian Republic because they are facing deep and systematic problems on the field off human potential and planning.
Despite 15 year-old mantra about man as a greatest advantage of Croatian army, there were perhaps the least investments in Croatian soldier, and that trend lead to the critical shortage of flying and technical staff in Croatian air force.
The wages of pilots were increased after 2015 when the entire crew of "Wings of the Storm" left for Qatar. While in the other acrobatic groups in the worlds, pilots are exclusively doing the flying, Croats had regular duties as instructors next to it. Interest for military pilots has been in decline for years.
In the past four years for military pilots, there were only 275 cadets. From generation 2010/2011 the system entered only 41 cadets. Not even seven per generation. With such influx, Croatian army has nothing to hope for.
System is paralyzed with the lack of vision and planing, so the future pilots don't have clear line of progress in their career.
"Jutarnji" spoke about that with recently retired Col. Ivan Selak, legendary MiG 21 test pilot.
- Young don't see the perspective in air force. Everyone who wants to become military pilot dreams about flying with fighter air plane. And we offer the same planes we fought in war. The purchase of new fighters is constantly postponed, and they are in the heart of every air force. When we can guarantee the young ones that they will fly on new planes in 2023 or 2024, the number of candidates for military pilots will increase. Today, we have the flying hunting squadron with the highest average age in Europe - said Selak.