November 2 (SeeNews) - Croatia and the U.S. signed a $5 million (4.3 million euro) agreement to establish a new cyber security operations centre in the capital Zagreb and a mobile cyber incident response team, both for the needs of the Croatian military, the U.S. embassy in Croatia said.
The U.S. is providing $4.2 million in special assistance towards the cost of the project, while the Croatian government is contributing the remainder, the U.S. embassy said in a statement on Friday.
"A range of complementary U.S.-funded programs will facilitate the advancement of Croatia’s Cyber Command with equipment, training, and technology needed to prevent cyber intrusions and defend the Croatian military and the Ministry of Defense networks," the U.S. embassy explained.
The goal of the initiative is to train Croatian specialists in the field, who will then lead and train the next generation of the defence ministry's cyber security experts.
In the past 10 years, the U.S. has provided over $700 million in support to its NATO ally Croatia for the modernisation of its military forces. The funding has facilitated the procurement of a range of high-end equipment including Blackhawk and Kiowa helicopters, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected Vehicles, water purification systems, night vision devices, and communications technology, the embassy noted.
($=0.858225 euro)