Editing Armed Forces of Croatia (section)

=== Reforms ===
[[File:Croatian detachment Bastille Day 2013 Paris t105017.jpg|thumb|400x400px|[[Honor Guard Battalion (Croatia)|Honor Guard Battalion]] at the [[Bastille Day]] [[Bastille Day military parade|2013 military parade.]]]]
With the stabilization of the situation after the end of the war, several important waves of reforms followed. There was an increasingly visible trend of other transition countries, as well as NATO members, to put emphasis in the development of the armed forces on mobility, on multifunctionality and flexibility in the use of the armed forces, and not on the mass composition and heavy equipment. Economic over-demanding and conceptual inadequacy, i.e. the inapplicability of the old Cold War conception became obvious. New security threats and a new international constellation called for deeper changes in the way armed forces were designed.  The process of reforming the defense system began in 2002. 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.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Change of doctrine of the Croatian Armed Forces |url=http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0672006/pricuva.asp|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080516102529/http://www.hrvatski-vojnik.hr/hrvatski-vojnik/0672006/pricuva.asp |archive-date=16 May 2008 }}</ref>  The main guidelines for the reform are set by strategic documents adopted by the Republic of Croatia: the National Security Strategy of the Republic of Croatia, the Defence Strategy of the Republic of Croatia, the Military Strategy of the Republic of Croatia. During 2003, the Ministry of Defence and the General Staff began working on the ''Strategic Defence Review'' (''SPO),'' which was adopted in 2005.  With the adoption ''of the Long-Term Development Plan of the Croatian Armed Forces 2006 – 2015'' (''DPR'') in the Croatian Parliament on 7 July 2006, clear content and time frames for further reform, development and modernization of the Croatian Armed Forces in the next ten years were set.

The essence of the changes consists in the gradual transition from Croatian individual (national) to collective defence and security mechanisms, and this also implies:

* transition to the professionalization of the Croatian Armed Forces, which means replenishment of soldiers voluntarily, and not through conscription (it also implies significant changes in the method of replenishment of the reserve, because the system of voluntary/contractual reserve will no longer be able to be replenished by conscript soldiers after the completion of conscript service);
* the transition to a collective defence system means a smaller active and reserve composition, but better trained, equipped, compatible and interoperable with allies.
* the possibility that smaller nations that are members of the Alliance, such as Croatia, can partially "specialize" in order to be able to contribute to joint operations in a specific way with their limited capacities.
* even greater overall engagement of units and members of the Croatian Armed Forces in collective activities, international missions, preventive security activities, etc.

In 2007, the Decision was made not to call up recruits for military service which represented an important step towards the professionalization of the Croatian Armed Forces, which implies the abolition of compulsory military service and the introduction of voluntary military service.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Abolishment of Conscription |url=http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/38547/ukinuto-obvezno-sluzenje-vojnog-roka|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090104123205/http://www.nacional.hr/clanak/38547/ukinuto-obvezno-sluzenje-vojnog-roka |archive-date=4 January 2009 }}</ref> The first generation of volunteer conscripts began serving in November 2008.

After the Long-Term Development Plan of the Croatian Armed Forces for the period 2015-2024 envisaged a frugal development of the armed forces, the complication of the security situation in Europe regarding Russia which culminated in the [[Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022]] the political will to decisively strengthen the Croatian Armed Forces was formed in Croatia, and the military budget was significantly increased.