A report by Croatian daily newspaper Večernji list says the Swedish Gripen and Israeli F-16 has emerged as the top contenders to replace the country’s MiG-21.
By Lipnopower (Own work) [GFDL or CC BY-SA 3.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Two other offers of F-16s from United States and Greece were considered and rejected. The U.S. offer was considered too expensive while the jets from Greece requires modernization.
The Israeli offer is considered the best option as the Gripen package is more expensive. The daily said Sweden has to lower its bid by 300 million euros in order to be competitive. Croatia is also keen to become a strategic defense partner with Israel.
A decision is expected on Nov. 30.