Lithuanian Ministry of Defense in January 2024 announced quite ambitious plans abput reinforcing its ground forces military component. For example, at that time, the ministry declared the intention to create its ever-first division for offensive operations by 2030 and purchase at least 54 Leopard 2 tanks to equip this new unit.
In addition, Vilnius also announced interest in purchasing an additional 120 Boxer wheeled armored vehicles (or Vilkas as they are called locally), on top of the 88 already available. However, after Laurynas Kasčiūnas became the new head of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense, a notable change of priorities took place in Lithuania's defense procurement agenda, Opex360 points out.
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For starters, the new Minister of Defense of Lithuania decided to reduce the number of tanks planned for purchase to a maximum of 12 vehicles as the number sufficient to equip a squadron. Instead, the freed funds would be used to buy air defense systems.
Still, Lithuania's air defense segment is counting primarily on collective defense provided by NATO. Moreover, at the moment there is no clear understanding of what kind of air defense systems Vilnius wants to procure.
Therefore, according to Opex360, it seems equally likely that Lithuania will opt to increase the number of available NASAMS III surface-to-air missile systems, which currently make up the core of the national air defense capability. Alternatively, Lithuania could join the initiative of other Baltic countries to jointly purchase German IRIS-T SLM missile systems.
Another interesting nuance: the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense decided to buy tracked instead of wheeled infantry fighting vehicles. Probably, the decision has in mind to expand cooperation with Rheinmetall, a German arms concern currently intending to develop ammunition production in Lithuania.
Lastly, the Opex360 authors described an interesting political viewpoint. In his statements, the defense minister Kaschyunas stressed how he relied primarily on the recommendations from the military leadership when changing military procurement priorities. These proposals were also publicly supported by Gabrielius Landsbergis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania.
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