November 25 (SeeNews) - Croatia signed on Thursday two state-to-state deals with France for the purchase of 12 Rafale multipurpose fighters and associated logistics support Dassault Aviation, the French aircraft manufacturer, said.
"The state-to-state contract mainly covers the transfer of 12 Rafale fighters from the French Air Force along with their equipment, as well as a training service for the Croatian Air Force," Dassault Aviation said in a statement on its website.
The contract for delivering logistics support covers all support resources, including additional spare parts for the fighter jets, over a period of three years.
The contracts were signed in Zagreb at a ceremony attended by French president Emmanuel Macron and Croatia's prime minister Andrej Plenkovic.
The Croatian defence ministry says on its website that the overall value of the respective deals signed with France is 999 million euro ($1.1 billion), to be paid from Croatia's state budget by end end of 2026.
In May, the Croatian government said it decided to purchase 12 used multirole combat aircraft Rafale F3-R from France for 999 million euro ($1.2 billion) following an international tender. France's offer was more favourable than the other three submitted respectively by the US, Sweden and Israel, the Croatian government said back then.
($=0.891 euro)