Croatia recently purchased armoured battle vehicles without weapons and equipment, and a tender for weapons systems worth about 60 million euros will be opened by the end of the year After Croatian Government on 2 August 2007 made the decision to buy the AMV 8X8 armoured battle vehicles of Finnish manufacturer Patria for the needs of the Croatian Armed Forces, an introductory meeting last week between Croatian defence minister Berislav Roncevic and the executive vice president of the Finnish Patria Company Heiki Hulkonnen launched the official negotiations on closing a deal on the acquisition of the eight-wheeled Finnish AMV armoured battle vehicle for the Croatian Army, the signing of which is slated for October. Nacional has learned that the Ministry of Defence will agree to buy a further 42 eight-wheeled vehicles from the Finnish manufacturer during the talks, so that the Croatian Army will have a total of 126 AMV 8X8 armoured battle vehicles without weaponry and additional equipment worth about 150 million euros.

As soon as the deal is closed with Finland's Patria a tender will be opened to equip the 126 vehicles with weapons, communication, medical, reconnaissance, thermal vision, engineering and optical equipment worth 60 million euros. The big contest to see who will equip the Croatian armoured battle vehicles with weapons systems will be led between the Israeli companies Elbit and Rafael and the Norwegian company Kongsberg. Remote control of weapons stations will allow Croatian soldiers to be protected in the vehicle while they simultaneously use various weapons, monitoring and destroying targets on an LCD screen and a joystick. The Couth African Denel Company and Italy's Oto Melara have lost the bid, not because of poor product quality, but because of the specific nature of the Croatian armoured battle vehicle project which leans towards remote control of weapons stations instead of a armed gun turrets.

THE ELBIT weapons station with a 30 mm cannon and Spike armour-piercing missiles, the cheapest in their class, were purchased a few months ago by the Slovenes for their AMV's The Italian Oto Melara Company has an aluminium turret firing station for the vehicle, and Djuro Djakovic has a concept using steel that has been developed over several decades so that the Italian aluminium concept does not dovetail with the program of the Croatian manufacturer. The South Africans are too heavy with their 2.5 tonne cupola, because that would mean that the protection on the vehicle would have to be reduced. It is presumed that the Ministry of Defence will spend about 40 million euros on equipping 84 armoured battle vehicles with remote controlled weapons stations, of which 24 vehicles are foreseen to be equipped with remote controlled weapons stations with 30 mm cannons and with or without armour-piercing missile systems. 36 armoured battle vehicles are to be equipped with remote controlled 12.7 mm firing stations that can also have an armour-piercing missile system, while 24 vehicles will be equipped with automatic 40 mm grenade launchers and a 7.62 mm machine gun.

DENEL of South Africa also manufactures cupola weapons stations, as does the Italian Oto Melara. The gun turret weighs about 2.5 tonnes, too much for the AMV As far as the armour-piercing missile system that comes with the weapons station it is likely that the Ministry of Defence will opt for the Israeli-manufactured Spike system, currently the most inexpensive on the market a launcher and one missile it costs about 10 thousand dollars. The other 42 vehicles will be equipped for reconnaissance, medical needs, logistics, command and pulling out, and it is expected that in that contingent of 42 armoured battle vehicles at least six will be equipped with the Nemo mortar system manufactured by the Finnish Patria and which have already been purchased by the Slovenes. Equipping these 42 vehicles will cost about 15 million euros.
At the Ministry of Defence they have only started seriously getting involved in the project to acquire and equip the armoured battle vehicles in the past two months because Croatia has through the Long Term Armed Forces Development Plan undertaken the obligation to equip its motorised units by 2010 and have them ready for military operations under the wings of NATO.

The acquisition of armoured battle vehicles is of great importance for the modernisation of the Croatian Army, but in practice this will not mean much to Croatian soldiers in Afghanistan, because the Ministry of Defence does not intend to deploy the AMV 8X8 to Croatian forces there, unlike Poland which has over the past few months sent a dozen of the Finnish armoured battle vehicles it manufactures on its territory under licence to Afghanistan and which have, as they themselves admitted, at lest on three occasion saved the lives of soldiers.

PATRIA OF FINLAND recently sold Slovenia ten 120 mm NEMO mortars for the AMV vehicle, and it is expected that Croatia will also take them for its AMV's Croatian soldiers are already at war, not on the Croatian border, but far from it, with opium smugglers and terrorist groups. By pure luck they survived the last few armed attacks in Afghanistan, because the attacks were carried out using only infantry weapons against a bullet proof all terrain vehicle. Had they been attacked by armour-piercing missiles or ran over a mine, the entire patrol crew would have perished and the vehicle would have been destroyed. The outdated BOV-3 armoured vehicle made by Rijeka-based Torpedo from the time of the Yugoslav Army and worn out Croatian military police Land Rovers cannot offer any kind of safety from mines or missiles.

It was known that the contingent of Croatian soldiers in Afghanistan would increase and that Taliban activity would rise and the danger to the lives of Croatian soldiers. Instead of the Ministry of Defence having long ago acquired resistant, solid and high quality light armoured vehicles because of the spreading of the Croatian contingent across all of Afghanistan, this all happened after members of the Croatian Army were attacked in Afghanistan.

OTO MELARA, an Italian company manufactures cupola weapons stations of aluminium construction, unlike Elbit and Rafael, who depend on steel That is why light armoured vehicles have been sent to Afghanistan. The Iveco LMW type vehicle, a light multipurpose vehicle resistant to 5.56 mm, 7.62, 12.7 and 14.7 mm ammunition. If they run across a mine on a road, the crew in the vehicle has a much better chance of surviving the blast than in other all terrain vehicles, thanks to a sandwich of armour in the undercarriage that very effectively absorbs the shock wave of the explosion, reduces its effect on the crew, that will be protected in part by special seats that reduce the effects of the explosion. The mentioned light armoured vehicles are still acceptable as far as patrol missions in settled areas are concerned, when only a few soldiers are being transported, and there is good visibility on the roads and the weather conditions are favourable for movement in the territory of Afghanistan. It is for the moment a good solution for Croatian soldiers in the mission, at least in situations until a suicide car bomb incident occurs, because there is no protection in all terrain and light armoured vehicles and busses from that. Despite all forms of transport that provide a measure of protection, there is still no solution on how to provide protection from an attack by a suicide bomber with a car full of explosives.

There is no front line in Afghanistan nor can any soldier be sure that he or she is passing through safe territory on the way to a zone where there are Taliban forces. The only thing that can save the lives of Croatian soldiers is a well-armoured, armed, reliable and robust vehicle. Croatian soldiers are entirely dependent on US assistance when they come under Taliban insurgent fire. The question is how quickly help can come and what is available to return fire, and how to protect themselves up to then if they do not have the newly purchased eight wheel armoured battle vehicles at their disposal.