ZAGREB, 1 Oct (Hina) – Defence Minister Ivan Anušić said on Wednesday that Croatia is ready to produce several million FPV unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) a year, or however many are needed, and announced that a contract for anti‑drone protection of domestic critical infrastructure will be signed soon.

Replying to journalists’ questions after an international military exercise at the Gašinci training ground about the situation with drone production in Croatia, Anušić said Croatia has “made itself available as a leading nation within the NATO alliance for the production of FPV (First-Person View)В drones, small combat drones that are often seen in reports from the battlefield in Ukraine.”

He stressed that Croatia is currently producing around 200,000 of them and that they are in use with the armed forces of Croatia, Bulgaria, the United States, France and Saudi Arabia, and will be, “as the situation develops, in the armed forces of many other countries.”

“We are ready to produce – that is, companies are ready to produce – more than the current quantity. We are talking about the possibility of very rapidly increasing production to half a million, or more than half a million, of these drones annually,” the minister said.

Anušić emphasised that the drone, that is every part of it, is entirely a product of Croatian knowledge and expertise. “A 100% Croatian-made product that is highly effective, exceptionally high-quality, reliable, and in demand by our allies.”

Concerning the topic of a drone defence system in Croatia, he said that an agreement would soon be signed “with one domestic and one foreign company for the procurement and development of anti-drone protection for our critical infrastructure, which will very soon be implemented in NATO critical infrastructure as well, serving as a shield against potential drone attacks.”