Lithuania's Armed Forces

The Defense Resource Agency under the Lithuanian Defense Ministry and the Armed Forces will this year make purchases for approximately 265 million euros, the Defense Ministry said on Monday.

Lithuania's Armed Forces plans on purchasing at least 200 US-made armored all-terrain vehicles, the Defense Ministry said.

Lithuania's Armed Forces will Thursday sign a contract on acquisition of Norwegian medium-range air-defense systems NASAMS, the Defense Ministry said.

A brawl erupted between two off-duty foreign troops in Jonava, central Lithuania, earlier this month, the Defense Ministry confirmed to BNS on Monday. The incident was not reported to the society earlier.

Lithuanian defense officials have decided to buy Norwegian medium-range air-defense systems NASAMS in hopes of patching one of the biggest defense gaps.

Lithuania intends to slightly increase the number of conscripts to be recruited to the Armed Forces next year, as compared with 2017.

Participation in international missions benefits Lithuania's Armed Forces, Defense Minister Raimundas Karoblis said at the parliament on Thursday in his presentation of the bid to send more troops to such operations.

Lithuania's Armed Forces has been authorized to shoot down unwanted drones, as the increasingly popular unmanned flying devices may serve as tools of international intelligence.

Lithuania's defense spending in the future will depend on available budget funds and the needs of its Armed Forces, Viktoras Pranckietis, the speaker of the Seimas, said on Monday, clarifying his position on the matter.

Four local men who worked with Lithuanian troops in Afghanistan have come to live in Lithuania, with one of them still waiting for asylum, the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces told BNS.

The Lithuanian Armed Forces' Joint Staff Headquarters in Vilnius are hosting on Tuesday a farewell ceremony for Lithuanian troops leaving for the NATO-led multinational Resolute Support Mission in Afghanistan and the US-led multinational mission Inherent Resolve in Iraq, the Defense Ministry said.

Two men -- one has spent four years in professional military service and the other has spent eight years -- are beign forced to pay for the bullets they fired while training to defend their homeland, the daily Lietuvos Rytas reported on Tuesday.

As NATO prepares to send more troops to Afghanistan, Lithuania also plans to increase its contingent in the volatile Central Asian country.

Professional military servicemen and servicewomen will be able to serve in the Lithuanian Armed Forces for around five years longer than they do now.

Lithuania's Armed Forces have revised menus for troops starting May to include more options, such as lasagna or burgers, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

Lithuania's Defence Ministry intends to put the Armed Forces in charge of coordination of the planning of military acquisitions as part of the reform of the procurement scheme in the defence system.

Russia is searching for ways of infiltrating young men holding dual citizenship of Lithuania and Russia in Lithuania's Armed Forces through compulsory initial military service, suggests the annual assessment of national security threats published on Monday.

Lithuania's Armed Forces are forming the third brigade consisting of mainly reserve troops.

Lithuania should step military and security cooperation with the Nordic countries, Defence Minister Raimondas Karoblis said after meeting with Iceland's top security, defense and military official in Vilnius on Friday.

The Defence Ministry's Defence Resource Council on Friday gave a green light to the reform of the defence system, with a centralized procurement agency being the main focus.