One of the first six Rafales to be delivered to Croatia. Deliveries of all 12 aircraft will be complete by mid-2025. (Dassault)

Croatia has inducted into service the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft it recently received from France.

The manufacturer announced the milestone on 25 April, saying the first six of 12 Rafales had been formally received into service by the Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo i protuzračna obrana: HRZ i PZO).

Having been handed over to the Croatian Ministry of Defence (MoD) at the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace: AAE) base at Mont-de-Marsan in France in 2023, these initial aircraft were received into the 91 operational base near Zagreb in a ceremony that was attended by Croation Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić.

With the Rafale to be operated by 191 Squadron, the first of the follow-on batch of six aircraft will arrive in Croatia by the end of 2024 to complete the unit by mid-2025.

For more information on the Croatian Air Force, please seeCroatia – Air Force .

HMS Diamond shoots down a missile fired by Iranian-backed Houthis from Yemen over the Gulf of Aden using its Sea Viper missile system – the first time a Royal Navy warship has intercepted a missile in combat since 1991. (Royal Navy/Crown Copyright)

The UK Royal Navy's (RN's) Daring (Type 45)-class destroyer HMS Diamond (D 34) has successfully engaged an anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) launched by Yemen-based Ansar Allah (commonly known as Houthi) rebels targeting a merchant ship in the Gulf of Aden, the service confirmed on 25 April.

During the incident, which took place around 1151 h local time (Sanaa time) on 24 April, Diamond used its Sea Viper anti-air guided weapon system to shoot down the missile, the navy said. According to a US Central Command (CENTCOM) statement issued on 25 April, the missile was likely targeting the US-flagged, owned, and operated merchant vessel MV Yorktown, which has 18 US and four Greek crew members onboard.

No injuries or damage was sustained by the ship or its crew, CENTCOM said.

Diamond

A Royal Australian Navy Hobart-class guided-missile destroyer fires a Harpoon surface-to-surface missile during Exercise ‘Pacific Vanguard' 2022. The class will be equipped with the Naval Strike Missile in the future. (Commonwealth of Australia)

The Australian government has released two more policy documents that outline its defence development intentions over the next few years. The two documents – National Defence Strategy (NDS) 2024 and Integrated Investment Program (IIP) 2024 – were unveiled by Australia's Minister of Defence Richard Marles on 17 April.

The new policies follow Australia's Defence Strategic Review (DSR) – issued in April 2023 – and its evaluation of surface combatant capabilities, which was released earlier in 2024.

As outlined in the IIP 2024, the Australian government is projected to spend AUD765 billion (USD496 billion) in the decade between 2024 and 2034 on defence programmes. This amount includes an additional AUD56 billion above the previous trajectory that was forecast for this period.