At least four defence industry companies from Germany and Ukraine want to cooperate with Lithuania, Prime Minister Gintautas Paluckas has announced.
According to him, efforts are also underway to establish contacts with US, Swedish, and UK arms manufacturers.
“There’s been significant headway. I have four proposals on the table, from both Germany and Ukraine. We’re also expecting visits from a number of global defence companies from the US. Talks with Sweden and the UK are still to come,” he told reporters on March 13.
Paluckas said that the government sought to attract Western high-tech defence companies to Lithuania to participate in joint projects for ammunition and other weaponry.
According to the prime minister, the aim is for defence spending to stay in Lithuania, be invested locally and boost the economy.
In February, Paluckas said that Lithuania aimed to establish joint defence industry ventures and factories by attracting local and foreign capital and would also negotiate with Ukraine for investment in this field.
Germany’s defence industry giant Rheinmetall, in partnership with two Lithuanian state-owned companies, is set to launch this year a project to build a 155 mm artillery ammunition factory in Baisogala, a town in the northern district of Radviliskis. The preliminary investment is estimated at 260-300 million euros.
Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger said in January that the company saw more investment opportunities in Lithuania.
Additionally, the government is continuing talks with US defence technology giant Northrop Grumman on building a 30 mm ammunition production line at the Giraite factory site in Kaunas district.
Last October, Lithuania signed a memorandum of intent with an undisclosed Ukrainian company to cooperate on building an RDX explosives plant. According to data collected by BNS, the Ukrainian company is the Centre of Special Chemistry. (LRT)