Breaking news
Croatia has asked United States to donate 16 M270 Multiple launch Rocket Systems from US surplus 11201162.
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Defence & Security News - Croatia
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| Croatia has asked United States to donate 16 M270 Multiple launch Rocket Systems from US surplus | |||
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Croatian Defence Ministry has recently asked the Pentagon to donate 16 mobile multiple rocket launchers M270 MLRS from US military surplus, through the program of assistance for allied countries.
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 A U.S. Army Soldier, assigned to Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 34th Armor, 1st Infantry Division, controls an M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) prior to launch during a training operation at the National Training Center, April 20, 2014. |
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The Croatian military budget for the past 6–7 years was kept below 2% of GDP, a vast difference from the 1990s when defence expenditure represented a major stake in Croatian Budgetary expenditure due to the Croatian War of Independence. For example, 1995 Croatian defense budget stood at 12.4 billion Croatian Kuna or just over 12% of GDP, which was also the highest defense expenditure ever.
A long term modernization plan, 2015-2024 has been published outlining overall goals and is available for download (102 pages) at the Ministry of Defence of Croatia website. According to earlier reports from the government, the Croatian Armed Forces are set to receive vitally needed new equipment, including a battalion of self-propelled howitzers, new infantry fighting vehicles, at least eight brand new helicopters and a squadron of fighter aircraft. The combat proven Multiple Launch Rocket System (M270 MLRS) is a 227mm rocket artillery system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control. The system is operational in the US Army, and fourteen countries have fielded or ordered MLRS: Bahrain, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Japan, South Korea, The Netherlands, Norway, Turkey and United Kingdom. The MLRS launcher unit comprises an M270 Launcher loaded with 12 rockets, packaged in two six-rocket pods. The launcher, which is mounted on a stretched Bradley chassis, is a highly automated self-loading and self-aiming system Each MLRS launcher can deliver almost 8,000 munitions in less than 60 seconds at ranges exceeding 32km. MLRS also fires the long-range Lockheed Martin Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) guided missiles. The ATACMS family includes the Block 1, Block 1A and Block 1A Unitary missiles. Block 1, which was used during Operation Desert Storm, carries 950 baseball-sized M74 sub-munitions to ranges exceeding 165km. The Block IA missile extends the range to more than 300km by reducing the sub-munitions payload and adding GPS guidance. |
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