Military of Croatia - Definition and Overview

Croatia's military is officially called "Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia" (Oružane Snage Republike Hrvatske) and it consists of these branches:

• ground forces (Hrvatska kopnena vojska)
• naval forces (Hrvatska Ratna Mornarica)
• air and air defense forces (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo i protuzračna obrana)

Total active duty members of the armed forces number is 29,000, including about 21,000 conscripts.

Reserves number 111,000 out of which 32,360 on first state of alert. Available males aged 15-49 number 1,081,135, of which 856,946 are technically fit for military service.

Only male citizens are subject to compulsory military service. The number of males reaching military age of 19 is 30,096 per year (2003 est.), at which point they have eight years to enlist either for 6 months in the army or for 8 months in the civil service.

The Croatian military budget was approximately USD 1.1 billion in 1997 (a little more than 5% of GDP), but it has since been reduced significantly (USD 520 million or 2.39% of GDP in 2002) and further reduced in 2003 (2.2% of GDP).

The Commander-in-Chief of all Croatian armed forces in peace and war is the President of the Republic. The Commander-in-Chief prescribes the organisation of the Croatian Armed Forces at the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, with consent of the Minister of Defence.

The Armed Forces consist of peacetime and wartime component. The peacetime component is made of active military officers, civil servants and employees in the Croatian Armed Forces, cadets, and conscripts serving a 6-month national service and reservists when on military exercise. The wartime component of the Armed Forces is additionally made of all other reservists.

The General Staff is part of Ministry of Defense in charge of commanding, training and use of the Armed Forces.

In peace, Commander-in-Chief exercises his command through Minister of Defense. In war and in case the Minister of Defence is not fulfilling orders, Commander-in-Chief exercises his command directly through the General Staff Commander.

The Croatian Parliament exercises democratic control over the Armed Forces by adopting defense strategy, defense budget and defense laws.

See also

• Croatian military ranks
  • Admiral Flote

External links

• Croatian Armed Forces Official website (http://www.morh.hr/osrh/index_en.asp)
• Unofficial website describing structure and development of Croatian armed forces; army, navy and air force; combat history of individual units, orders of battle and military equipment (http://www.vojska.net/military/croatia/)