Minister of National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė says that Lithuanian companies could replace part of the United States (JAV) suppliers of defense industry companies.
"We had really good practical conversations with US defense giants about the possibility of Lithuanian companies participating in supply chains as suppliers that would replace some of the already existing, not-so-high-quality suppliers, the establishment of joint ventures, and the establishment of certain production, assembly, and service centers in Lithuania," the minister told reporters on Friday.
She spoke after meetings in the US this week with representatives of RTX, Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and AM General.
According to D. Šakalienė, it has been agreed that representatives of these companies will visit Vilnius in the very near future.
"Then we will go through the list in great detail of which specific components and which weapons options they would like to see produced in Lithuania. We will also make assessments of certain service centers and which Lithuanian companies they could work with," the minister said.
She also noted that due to "collapsed agendas" she was unable to meet with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth during her visit to the United States.
"We received a letter saying that they would like to organize a bilateral meeting in the near future, because this week, as you can see, there is such an intense process going on that everyone's agendas are in disarray. I really hope that it will be organized in the near future," the minister said.
D. Šakalienė left for the United States on Sunday.
Lithuania is the largest buyer of US weapons in the Baltic States. Vilnius has purchased weapons and equipment from Washington worth around 2 billion euros, which accounts for almost 20 percent of the country's total purchases.
Lithuania is purchasing Javelin anti-tank missile systems, JLTV armored all-terrain vehicles, Black Hawk helicopters, Himars rocket artillery systems, AMRAAM missiles for medium-range air defense systems NASAMS, and Switchblade drones from the United States.
Lithuanian law defines industrial cooperation, known in the market as offset, as a mechanism where the state and the arms seller agree that part of the seller's obligations related to, for example, weapons repair or production, are carried out through Lithuanian companies.
The government is continuing negotiations with US defense technology giant Northrop Grumman this year regarding the installation of a 30 mm caliber ammunition production line at the Giraitė factory in Kaunas district. An agreement on the establishment of a joint venture is expected to be reached in the first half of the year.
Investments in the line could reach several tens of millions of euros, but specific figures and the division of shares between the US company and the state will depend on the results of negotiations.
Author Paulius Perminas
