Handover of modern and powerful rigid inflatable boats (RIB) to SFC and opening of facilities for counter-mine divers

On Wednesday, 17 January 2024 in the “Fleet Admiral Sveto Letica – Barba” Barracks in Split, a ceremony was held to mark the opening of the renovated facilities to be used by counter-mine divers, and the handover of the RIB boats to the Special Forces Command was held.

“Today is a very special day for the Croatian Navy. This explosive ordnance disposal training centre is a resource that will enable us to strengthen mine countermeasures capabilities and put new technologies into practice in our daily work. Demining is a long and demanding process, but we are determined to improve our capabilities in that segment,” said the new Croatian Navy Commander, Commodore Damir Dojkić.

The Commodore especially emphasised that construction of the infrastructure for training of the counter-mine divers was made possible owing to the support of the United States Government. “The United States is the most important strategic partner of the Republic of Croatia in the field of defence. In addition to excellent bilateral relations, the United States provides assistance and support to the Republic of Croatia in a number of areas, including education and training, joint exercises, donations and procurement of the key military equipment, providing support to Croatian participation in operations abroad, humanitarian and development projects supporting the Armed Forces and local communities in Croatia, and many other activities,” emphasised Commodore Dojkić.

This is a project that contributed immensely to the Croatian-American alliance and partnership, but also to the Croatian Navy, as well as to the Special Forces Command. This is also a result of long-term cooperation, both on the American and Croatian side. The United States is Croatia’s biggest and most important partner in the field of security, and that cooperation has shown itself in the best light today,” emphasised the Head of the Department for International Security and Defence Cooperation in the MOD’s Defence Policy Directorate , Igor Gabrić.

“The United States and Croatia share the same values and the same interests, but they also share common security. The United States Government, as well as the U.S. European Command, proudly provided financial assistance to the Croatian Navy in the implementation of this project because it is a close NATO partner and ally. The U.S. and Croatian Armed Forces have been working closely together for the past 30 years, and we hope that this is just another of the many joint projects we will accomplish,” U.S. Defence Attaché Colonel Scott McLearn said.

Cooperation with the U.S. Armed Forces in the field of mine countermeasures capabilities of the Croatian Navy has been continuously implemented since the year 2008, and they are one of the main factors that directly support the implementation of the capability objective M 6204 N Naval Mine Warfare – Mine Countermeasures Capabilities. At initiative of the Croatian Navy, in early 2020, a donation project for the construction and renovation of infrastructure for Croatian Navy counter-mine counter divers was launched, which continued active support of joint projects through co-financing from Humanitarian Mine Action Program (HMAP) by the U.S. Government and all with the goal of establishing the International Counter-Mine Divers Training Centre. This is the first donation from the U.S. Government in the infrastructure and facilities of the Croatian Navy.

During the handover of the RIB (Rigid Inflatable Boat) to the Special Forces Command, Commander of the SFC Colonel Ivan Miloš pointed out that this is just another evidence of the long-term quality cooperation between the U.S. Armed Forces and the CAF and added that he hopes that this fruitful cooperation will continue in the future.

These are the first three RIB boats and two communication and information systems for the implementation of special operations.

The equipping and modernising of the Special Forces Command is primarily directed to development of the capabilities of the air, sea and land groups of special forces, and the command-and-control system.

The complete equipping of the special forces with four RIB boats for naval special forces results from the needs for implementation of the naval special operations at tactical level and achievement of the requirements of the NATO Capability Objective. Delivery of the fourth boat is expected in 2024.

Equipping worth a total of 6.7 million USD was carried out with a donation from the U.S. Government with three RIB boats worth 5.1 million USD, while the Ministry of Defence purchased one boat worth 1.6 million USD in 2022.