After the visit of Pistorius, Lithuania became interested in the German air defense systems IRIS-T

Lithuania's Minister of National Defense Laurinas Kaščiūnas said that Vilnius is considering the purchase of IRIS-T medium-range air defense systems from Germany, although last year renounced these intentions.

As “Europeyska Pravda” reports with reference to LRT, Kaschyunas said this after a meeting with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius in the Lithuanian city of Palanga.

The head of the Lithuanian The Ministry of Defense confirmed that “we are very seriously considering the possibility of purchasing the IRIS-T medium-range air defense system from Germany”. , which works, which is effective in Ukraine, may soon, in a few years, become part of our armed forces”, – he suggested.

Kaščiūnas added that Lithuania has not abandoned its intention to purchase Leopard tanks and equip a tank battalion in the new division with them.

The defense ministers of Lithuania and Germany met in Palanga to discuss the upcoming NATO summit in Washington, the EU agenda, international operations, support for Ukraine and other issues of bilateral cooperation in the field of defense and security.

In the fall of 2023, as reported, Latvia and Estonia signed a contract for the acquisition of a medium-range air defense system range of IRIS-T with the German company Diehl Defense.

But Lithuania then decided to give preference to the Norwegian air defense system NASAMS and signed a contract with the manufacturer in December.

By the way, the Lithuanian side handed Ukraine the launch NASAMS installations within military assistance.