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Croatia - Land Forces - Organization

The Land Forces now consist of two main units, a motorized brigade and an armored-mechanized brigade, both fully professionalized. Battalions within these brigades will represent the basic module for the formation of task-tailored forces. These battalions will be mobile, deployable, equipped and trained as rapid reaction forces. Tank battalions will not develop capabilities for deployment outside the national territory. The brigades also include all the necessary combat support units and services. This will ensure the required capabilities of fire power, anti-armoured combat, low altitude anti-aircraft defence, NBC defence and protection, providing mobility and counter-mobility, as well as self-sufficient logistic support for the conduct of operations.

A professionalized (guards) motorized brigade includes four motorized infantry battalions. In an effort to increase their overall combat power, the brigades were gradually equipped with combat vehicles on wheels. In addition to national defence tasks, the brigade is expected to take part in NATO and EUled operations. A professionalized (guards) armoured-mechanized brigade includes two tank and two mechanized battalions with combat support units and services. While the brigade as a whole is not intended for NATO operations, its training and standards will be adjusted in accordance with NATO doctrine so as to be interoperable with Allied forces. Combat support will be organised as an integral element of professional brigades, as well as independent combat support units.

Artillery units provide manoeuvrable and mid-range fire support under all weather and combat conditions (including NBC). Existing artillery, rocket launchers and other weapon systems will be used. In addition to these basic capabilities, artillery units will gradually further improve their mobility and sustainability.

Anti-aircraft units of the Land Forces are intended to provide anti-aircraft combat capability at low altitudes and will be equipped with existing weapon systems. These units will participate in protecting vital CAF elements and critical infrastructure within an integrated air defence system.

A military intelligence unit is intended to provide intelligence support to the CAF and will develop the necessary capabilities for the gathering, analysis and distribution of intelligence information, particularly important for planning and executing military operations. In addition, the unit also provides assistance to civil institutions whenever it relates to issues of national importance.

Military Police units continue to develop, in accordance with legal provisions, their existing capabilities for conducting fundamental military police tasks in Croatia. These units were organised under a single command and provide military police support to all segments of the CAF. The equipment, training and standard procedures to be adopted allow the Military Police to participate in international crisis response operations.

One of the most important branches of support to operational forces in field, especially as regards the army is indisputably the engineer corps. The key task of engineer units is carrying out construction works with which they contribute to development of the armed forces within their specialty in the best possible way. As regards the Guards Armored Mechanized Brigade, the Engineer Battalion is responsible for carrying out those and other similar activities. It was established during the reform in 2008 and most of their members, almost 90 percent come from the former 30th engineer brigade and engineer company of the 3rd GAMBR.

Engineering units are intended to support sustainability, mobility and counter-mobility requirements. Limited de-mining capabilities will be retained and further developed since a significant portion of Croatia’s territory has yet to be cleared of left-over mines from the Homeland War. Likewise, this capability could be useful in international operations. The CAF will continue to develop military capabilities that can also support designated civil services in search and rescue efforts in a disaster situation where lives and material values are at risk.

Signal units provide basic and specialized communication capabilities by establishing and maintaining stationary and mobile signal components. Thus, signal units may also provide communication and information support to forces deployed abroad (whether in crisis response operations or for collective defence purposes) and, as host nation support, to forces of NATO member countries while on Croatian territory. They are also expected to provide support to civil institutions in national emergency and crisis situations. The equipment and standard operative procedures of signal units will become compatible with those of the Alliance. Achieving interoperability in this area will represent one of the highest priorities of CAF acquisition and modernisation efforts through 2015.

The signals regiment within the Croatian Army will, apart from its intended task of Army support, provide for the complete functioning of stationary, network-information and encrypted-protected communications system and functioning of radio-communications. By maintaining the communications system a secure and continuous command, control and information system and protected data transfer will be secured. Separate modules from the signals regiment component will provide required and constant information and communications support to the CAF GS and the Operative Command Centre as well as the support command and the Croatian Military Academy.

The Electronic Surveillance Centre, numbering up to 400 professionals, will be responsible for the conduct of strategic electronic surveillance for the purposes of intelligence security at the highest levels of decision making and command, as well as of electronic activity in support of CAF operations. Information gathered through the electronic surveillance will be processed in a prescribed manner and distributed to users within the framework of a unified intelligence system in the Republic of Croatia. The Electronic Surveillance Centre will in its constitution integrate elements for electronic surveillance and electronic activities in the CAF, while for activity in operations it will be supplemented with an Army military-intelligence battalion.

A special operations unit developed capabilities for executing specific military and other important tasks. The Special Operations Battalion numbers up to 300 professionals. The Special Operations Battalion will combine all resources with the capabilities for the conduct of special operations from all CAF organizational units (Croatian Army, Croatian Navy, Military Police units). The Special Operations Battalion will have capabilities for performing special operations by using all three dimensions (land, sea, air). During the conduct of all the operations and combat activities, the special operations battalion will be under direct command of the Chief of CAF GS. For the conduct of operations and combat activities, the Chief of CAF GS will, based on a request by the operation commander for specific forces for the conduct of special operations, assign the necessary forces under the direct operative control of the operations commander.

The Protective Honorary Battalion will perform protocol tasks for the needs of top level state and military officials as well as tasks related to the protection and security of the Commander-in-Chief. The Protective Honorary Battalion will be entirely manned with professionals (up to 300 members).

NBC units maintain capabilities for NBC protection of CAF units through the organisation and conduct of decontamination, as well as gathering, processing and distributing data on possible contaminants. NBC unit organisation and equipment will enable for its use in international operations and activities that call for such capabilities. Considering the growing danger of terrorist attacks, capabilities designed to detect NBC contaminants and WMD material must be fully developed, as well as the capacity to rapidly and safely neutralize such threats. In the event of a terrorist attack, it may be necessary to contain and remove the consequences of NBC related hazards. These capabilities may also be used to assist civil institutions in dealing with the dangerous aftereffects stemming from industrial accidents and technological disasters.

While certain units will be entirely professionalized, others will be made up of reserve components. Reserve units will consist of an active duty core element, responsible for assigning personnel and unit training. Reserve units will be used for national defence purposes, but it will also be possible to use certain reserve components in augmenting CAF efforts in international operations. The current size of the reserve will be further reduced. On the other hand, reserve training will be intensified in order to increase their effectiveness. The concept of contract reserves will be gradually introduced. The contract reserves were expected to make up some 50% of the active duty component by 2010. After the expiration of their contracts, both active duty personnel and contract reserve will be placed on a non-assigned reserve list. The legacy obligatory reserve personnel were gradually placed on the non-assigned reserve list.

In 2017, the process of setting up six reserve infantry regiments of the Croatian Army was completed:

• 1st Infantry Regiment Zagreb
• 2nd Infantry Regiment Osijek
• 3rd Karlovac Infantry Regiment
• 4th Infantry Regiment Pula
• 5th Infantry Regiment Split
• 6th Infantry Regiment Dubrovnik

In 2018, six units of the Croatian Armed Forces support troop units were established:

• 2. Ðakovo Artillery Missile Regiment
• 3rd Knin Artillery and Missile Regiment
• 2nd Regiment of Velika Gorica Air Defense Corps
• Engineer Battalion Karlovac
• 2nd Battalion Velika Gorica
• Logistics Regiment Zagreb