III. LEVEL OF AMBITION 4 The Immediate Response Forces (IRF) are part of NATO Response Forces. Their size is up to 13,000 members of the land, air and naval forces. The Armed Forces will participate with up to 130 members or the equivalent of a maneuver company. The Republic of Croatia refers to the defense against the armed aggression in terms of Article 5 of North Atlantic Treaty. In the defense of sovereignty and territorial integrity, the Republic of Croatia will use all available forces and resources including development of its own Armed Forces and accepting the Allied forces up to the required level. In defending the Allies, the Armed Forces will participate primarily with capabilities that have been developed within NATO Defense Planning framework as well as with the other available forces. The Republic of Croatia will develop the Armed Forces whose primary mission will be the defend sovereignty and territorial integrity and to maintain capabilities for initial response to a potential armed aggression and acceptance of Allied forces in conducting Collective Defense on the national territory. With this purpose, up to 20000 members of the Assigned Reserve will be posted to the Reserve Armed Forces together with corresponding weapons and equipment. The mechanisms of activating Mobilization Reserve, together with reactivating Compulsory Military Service will ensure the growth of the forces up to the level required for the successful counter potential armed aggression on the national territory. The Republic of Croatia will develop capabilities for sustainable participation in operations abroad with up to 1000 Armed Forces members. The required Defense Budget funding will be planned for the participation in operations with up to 200 Armed Forces members while the funding of the possible participation above the stated number will be provided outside of the Defense Budget. The Republic of Croatia will keep on contributing with its forces to the NATO Response Forces (NRF) and European Union Battle Groups (EU BG). Overall declared forces of the Republic of Croatia for the NATO Response Forces will make up to 1% of the NATO Immediate Response Forces (IRF).4 Within the Immediate Response Forces, the Armed Forces will participate contributing with a Company-size unit of a Mechanized infantry or equivalent forces. The Armed Forces will participate with declared forces within the NATO Response Forces Pool (RFP). In addition to the ambition to contribute in filling in the share of the NATO Command Structure, the Republic of Croatia will continuously join the NATO Force Structure. Parallel to this, the Republic of Croatia remains open to joining forces through other initiatives and multilateral arrangements beyond the framework of NATO and EU, especially in the regional environment. Participation in the EU BG will range from a significant contribution in the time span T H E C R O AT I A N A R M E D F O R C E S L O N G − T E R M D E V E L O P M E N T P L A N 2 0 1 5 − 2 0 2 4