Minister of National Defense of Lithuania Laurinas Kaschyunas said that all types of troops in the country will have FPV drones.
He said this on Wednesday together with by the commander of the ground forces, General Raimundus Vaikshnoras, in the Pabrad district, presenting plans for the acquisition of drones and their integration, reports “Europeyska Pravda” with reference to LRT.
“We have decided to purchase FPV drones for all types of armed forces. Integrating volunteer the national defense forces, the military academy and the cadet lyceum named after General Povilas Plehavicius, thus we are creating a certain ecosystem of drones in the army. By the end of this year, FPV drones will be in the hands of our army,” – said the Minister of National Defense.
It is planned to equip the Lithuanian army with various types of unmanned aerial vehicles, combat aerial and naval drones.
Procurements are planned for tactical and operational levels, reconnaissance, targeting and destruction.
“We can't lag behind… We used to have Chinese production, but we all realized that we didn't like them, we gave them (drones. – Ed.) to Ukraine , and now we need to fill the holes in this sphere, and we will do it,” – emphasized the army commander.
The day before, it became known that the Armed Forces of Lithuania are starting a new stage of strengthening their operational capabilities – they plan to acquire maritime surface drones and integrate them into the Navy.
Earlier it was reported that the Lithuanian Defense Resources Agency is purchasing drones from five local manufacturers for the amount of 8 million euros.
< p>In addition, the Lithuanian government plans to allocate an additional 20 million euros in the near future for the purchase of various types of combat and reconnaissance drones.