Spike missiles, fire-and-forget guided missile systems mounted on Vilkas Infantry Fighting Vehicles (IFVs), have been tested for the first time by the Lithuanian military. The Israel-made system was tried out on January 14-18 during a combat shooting drills of the Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanized Infantry Battalion. Spike missiles have been installed on Lithuania’s newly acquired…
The Lithuanian State Defense Council decided on January 10 that the country should buy multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) earlier than planned. The announcement comes amid tensions in the region over Russia’s military buildup near Ukraine’s borders. “It was agreed to push forward the plans to procure MLRS together with the neighbouring Baltic countries,” Darius…
Ukraine’s state-owned arms exporter, Ukrspecexport, received 144 foreign delegations and signed contracts worth $332 million in 2021, the company’s press service reported. Last year, Ukrspecexport managed to intensify international activities and achieve growth in economic performance. This led to a significant increase in the total amount of newly concluded foreign economic contracts. “Although the revival…
On December 21, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian defense ministers agreed to jointly develop a rocket artillery capability. In their joint statement, the ministers “declared their intent to engage in a joint development of regional interoperable Multiple Launch Rocket System capability”. “I cannot say specifically right now how it will look like, as we only have…
Georgia has presented its first reconnaissance vehicle produced by the state military scientific-technical center Delta. PM Irakli Garibashvili has attended the presentation of the vehicle, which is “in full accordance with international standards”. The vehicle, which is designed for seven servicemen and has a 330-horsepower engine, ensures protection against bullets of various capacities. The vehicle’s…
The state-owned Antonov Company will build three An-178 aircraft, ordered by the Defense Ministry, without Russian components, Director General of the State Concern Ukroboronprom Yuriy Husev has said. “Complete elimination of dependence on the supply of components from the Russian Federation is among the main priorities. The contract for the construction of three An-178 aircraft,…
The draft state budget for 2022 envisages 21% of expenditures on the security and defense sector, to the Minister of Finance, Serhiy Marchenko has said. In total, UAH 319.4 billion will be spent on national security and defense, which corresponds to 5.95% of GDP. “These are expenditures within budget programs run by the Ministry of…