US State Department Offers Croatia Bradley M2A2 ODS Infantry Fighting Vehicles

The 84 Bradleys offered by the United States are the same model in use by the Minnesota National Guard, whose close cooperation with Croatia through the State Partnership Program (SPP) spans 25 years. The Minnesota National Guard will help Croatia integrate, train, and maintain the Bradley capability through long-term SPP initiatives together with the Croatian Armed Forces. The U.S. Army security assistance enterprise synchronizes and integrates capabilities to meet Army goals in the competitive environment with an advanced focus on speed and agility. That is why the United States continues to deliver quality equipment that meets allies’ defense requirements, as seen with the recent offer of 84 Bradley M2A2 Infantry Fighting Vehicles to Croatia. U.S. Army Security Assistance Command, which manages foreign military sales cases for the Army, is supporting the Croatian Army’s request.

The Bradleys offered to Croatia share approximately 70% of the same parts as other Bradleys in the U.S. inventory and provide assurances of long-term availability for parts and supplies. The Croatian Armed Forces have a 25-year partnership with the Minnesota National Guard through the Department of Defense’s State Partnership Program, which builds cooperative, mutually beneficial international relationships. The program, which began in 1993, consists of 85 partnerships with 92 countries and Croatia is one of those. Because the Minnesota National Guard use the same model of Bradleys, they will help Croatia integrate, train and maintain the Bradley capability. Like the Minnesota National Guard, the Croatian Army has requested the same upgrades for their new Bradleys, to include a UAVE component for the vehicles. The Army continues to modernize its more than 2,000 Bradleys in its fleet for the next several decades before transferring them to the U.S. Army National Guard units for further use.

“We first offered this Bradley acquisition program to Croatia in fiscal year 2017. The U.S. supports the Bradley acquisition program by providing a cost effective option to meet the country’s NATO target. The U.S. Army has a strong record of ensuring assistance to our partner nations for effectively sustaining their U.S. equipment. Such activities include maintaining qualified sources of supply and repair, bundling procurement contract requirements for economies of scale, proactive parts redesign and supplier requalification and continued product support for legacy variants of weapons systems for decades to come. All refurbishment of these 84 Bradley Fighting Vehicles in this program will be completed by Croatia’s talented workforce at the Djuro Djakovic facility in Slavonski Brod. The US Embassy and the Minnesota National Guard look forward to working closely with our Croatian Allies to build an amazing Bradley IFV combined arms capability and take our already strong security relationship to new levels,” said Senior Defense Official and Defense Attaché’ for Croatia Col. Matt Denny.

The Government of Croatia has requested to buy refurbishment/modernization and support for seventy-six (76) M2A2 Operation Desert Storm (ODS) Bradley Fighting vehicles consisting of: eighty-four (84) M240 machine guns; one thousand one hundred three (1,103) TOW 2A Radio Frequency (RF) missiles; sixteen (16) TOW 2A Radio Frequency (RF) fly‑to‑buy lot acceptance missiles; one hundred (100) TOW 2B Radio Frequency (RF) missiles; eight (8) TOW 2B Radio Frequency (RF) fly-to-buy lot acceptance missiles; five hundred (500) TOW Bunker Buster (BB) Radio Frequency (RF) missiles; and — eight (8) TOW BB fly-to-buy lot acceptance missiles. Also included are M257 Smoke Grenade Launchers; ammunition; radios; simulator; special armor; Hunter/Killer technology, which may include an exportable Commander’s Independent Viewer (CIV); spare and repair parts; support equipment; upgrade/maintenance of engines and transmissions; refurbishment of TOW launchers.