Colonel Stjepan Stepić

Chief, S3 Operations Section, 93rd Wing Croatian Air Force

Colonel Stjepan Stepić was born in Nova Gradiška on 22 April 1978. In 1996, he enrolled in the military pilot programme in aeronautics at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Sciences, University of Zagreb. Following graduation in 2001, he began his flying career at the 91st Air Force Base at Pleso. He subsequently served in transport helicopter squadrons at Lučko and Divulje, progressing through appointments as pilot, aircraft commander, flight instructor, flight evaluator and examiner, Squadron Flight Safety Officer, Flight Commander, Deputy Squadron Commander, and Commander of the 395th Transport Helicopter Squadron and Commandant of Divulje Barracks. After more than five years in squadron command, he was appointed Chief, S3 Operations Section, 93rd Wing, on 1 December 2025. He was promoted to colonel on 28 May 2026.

 An aircraft commander and instructor pilot on Mi-8/17/171Sh helicopters, Colonel Stepić has extensive experience in day and night operations in all weather conditions, including search and rescue, maritime and mountain rescue, aerial firefighting, helicopter emergency medical services, Coast Guard support, NVG operations and tactical airlift. He has also served as a flight safety and standardization officer and as an aviation operations officer and coordinator during national firefighting operations. He has logged more than 2,500 military flying hours. His international operational service includes nine deployments to NATO-led KFOR mission at Kosovo as a pilot, flight safety officer, Croatian Contingent Commander, Deputy Contingent Commander and Aviation Component Commander. In 2016, he deployed to NATO's Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan as Team Leader of the 5th Croatian Rotary Wing Unit, serving as a Mi-17 instructor pilot, mentor, and flight safety officer with TAAC-Air and the 438th Air Expeditionary Wing. He also supported humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2014.