The Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia (Croatian: Oružane snage Republike Hrvatske – OSRH) are the military forces organized for the defense of the Republic of Croatia and its allies by military means and for other forms of use and use in accordance with the domestic and international law.

The Croatian Armed Forces protect the sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Croatia and defend its territorial integrity.

The Croatian Armed Forces have three basic missions and those being: Defence of the Republic of Croatia and its allies, contribution to the international security and supporting civil institutions.

This unified institution consists of land, sea, and air branches referred to as: In 2023, Armed Forces had 15,900 members, of which 14,103 were active military personnel and 1,806 civil servants.

[5] In the late spring of 1991, the first military units of the National Guard Corps were formed, established on 20 April 1991. by the decision of the President of the Republic and which, for legal and political reasons, was formally part of the Ministry of the Interior.

A large part of the command in the field was transferred to local crisis staffs composed and led by political officials who did not necessarily have military knowledge broader than those they had acquired during their conscription service in the JNA.

At that time, a more systematic mobilization of reserve soldiers and the organization of units, commands and institutions began, as well as the planned use of forces.

On 1 October 1991, large military-territorial and combat commands (Operational Zones) were formed with headquarters in Osijek, Bjelovar, Zagreb, Karlovac, Rijeka and Split.

Thanks to the growing military experience, the quality of these units grew, and the organization of the entire system improved over time.

The training of new generations of 18-year-old young men who served in the Croatian Army continued, whereby army units during military service were generally not used for combat tasks (young men would mostly receive call-ups for combat units soon after completing their compulsory military service).

As the war progressed, through clandestine operations (the legal procurement of military equipment for the war-torn territory of the former Yugoslavia was prevented), significant amounts of military surpluses created after the collapse of the Warsaw Pact were purchased; in particular, the procurement of combat aircraft of Soviet origin was significant for the formation of the Croatian Air Force.

The aim of the reform and reorganization is to establish a modern structure of the defence system that will be able to respond to the challenges of the new era, taking into account the membership of the Republic of Croatia in NATO and security arrangements within the European Union.

The peacetime composition of the Armed Forces consists of active military personnel, civil servants and employees assigned to the Armed Forces, reservists called up for training, contract reservists, cadets and persons who have received voluntary military training.

In October 2008, for the first time, a reconnaissance team (15 members) has been deployed to the EU peacekeeping mission (EUFOR) in Chad and the Central African Republic for 6 months.

[22] Croatian soldiers have been participating in the KFOR operation in Kosovo since July 2009 when the first HRVCON was sent with 20 members and two Mi-171Sh transport helicopters.

The backbone of the contingent consists of members of the Artillery and Missile Battalion of the Guards Mechanized Brigade with a battalion of self-propelled multiple rocket launchers Vulkan, staff working as part of the BGP Command, as well as the Military Police team and the national support element with associated weapons, equipment and vehicles.

The basic task and mission of the Croatian contingent was integration into the multinational battle group led by the Federal Republic of Germany, as well as the implementation of training in that composition, which, in addition to members of the Croatian Armed Forces, also includes members of the armed forces of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Belgium, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, the French Republic and the host country of the Republic of Lithuania.

[citation needed] As part of the further strengthening of the Allies' deterrence and defence posture and taking into account the deteriorating security situation in Eastern Europe following Russian aggression on Ukraine, NATO launched an enhanced vigilance activity in February 2022, which led to the establishment of battlegroups in Hungary, the Slovak Republic, Romania and the Republic of Bulgaria.

[23] At the Warsaw Summit in July 2016, NATO announced the transformation of the Active Endeavour mission in the Mediterranean Sea into a broader maritime security operation.

In September 2018, the Croatian Navy ship RTOP-41 Vukovar participated in the Sea Guardian peace support operation in the Mediterranean.