All Lithuanian border guards should receive NATO-standard compliant weapons until the end of 2023, Rustamas Liubajevas, the commander of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service (VSAT), has said. “We are planning to fully meet our needs next year,” he told reporters. The Lithuanian Armed Forces transferred 200 G-36 automatic rifles to border guards some time…
The Lithuanian Armed Forces is undergoing significant upgrades. Construction of a new military campus has started near Vilnius, and two more will soon be launched in Silale and Siauliai. New ammunition depots are also being built. In addition to that, the ministry is planning to buy new weapons and expects the military budget, which has…
Work is getting underway to refit HMS Quorn, a former British Royal Navy mine-hunting vessel purchased by Lithuania. The ship is expected to be ready for service with the Lithuanian Navy in two years. The Lithuanian Defence Ministry, which acquired HMS Quorn from the UK Ministry of Defence under a contract signed in April 2020,…
Lithuania reached a deal with a Polish company to purchase the Warmate loitering munition system. The so-called kamikaze drones will be handed over to Ukraine, Lithuania’s Ministry of Defence says. The agreement was concluded between Vice Minister of Defence Vilius Semeska and Poland’s WB Group in Warsaw. The Defence Ministry will broker the drone purchase…
Lithuanian border guards’ unions complain that they are armed with old unreliable Kalashnikovs and undersupplied with ammunition. In case of a foreign invasion, border guards say they would be the first line of defence. Shooting is an important part of border guards’ training and the main weapon is the pistol. However, border guards’ trade unions…
Lithuania will send two rotations of instructors to the United Kingdom to train Ukrainian troops there, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on August 23. “I can confirm that Lithuania will send two rotations of 15 instructors each to the UK for the basic training of Ukrainian troops. This further increases Lithuania’s contribution to the…
The Bayraktar drone, crowdfunded by Lithuanians and handed over to Ukraine in July, is already carrying out combat tasks, Defence Minister Arvydas Anusauskas said on August 22. “The Bayraktar UAV Hawk about to perform combat tasks in Ukraine,” Anusauskas wrote on Facebook, posting a photo of the drone. “We cannot give more details, but it…