Croatia intends to buy used F-16 fighter jets by 2010 for its armed forces, Anton Tus, Croatia's ambassador at NATO, was quoted by the daily Jutarnji list as saying Saturday. By 2010 "or even sooner" Croatia would buy the first F-16 in what was "a transition from the MiG 21" as part of upgrading the armed forces into line with NATO standards. Croatia hopes to join NATO in the next few years. Croatia would buy between four and six F-16s from the United States. The aircraft would be ten years old, and used over a period of ten years. Croatia currently has a dozen ageing, Soviet-era MiG 21s bought in the mid 1990s. It is believed only three or four are airworthy.
