Lithuania intends to purchase military ships capable of performing various functions from Norway, says Minister of National Defense Dovilė Šakalienė.
She spoke this on Monday after a meeting with Norwegian Defense Minister Tore Onshuus Sandvik, who is visiting Lithuania.
"We are working very intensively on assessing our options for purchasing ships from Norway. Certain proposals are currently being evaluated, and the Norwegian side is also assessing ship models to see how this process could move forward," said D. Šakalienė at a press conference held after the meeting.
"These are modular ships of the Vanguard class, they (…) can be used for various missions. Our goal is to make this an optimal platform. Our fleet is small, so the ships must be versatile enough to perform different missions, so that our Navy has a ship that is adapted to our needs and at the same time can effectively cooperate with our other allies, depending on the type and complexity of the tasks," the minister said.
Decisions – by the end of the year
According to her, decisions on the acquisition of ships should be made by the end of the year.
"(The decisions – BNS) will greatly strengthen our military capabilities, and will also create opportunities for our defense industry to cooperate effectively in the context of industrial cooperation," the minister said.
"If a large part of the components could be produced in Lithuania, except, of course, for weapons systems, it would really allow our local industry to get involved and we would benefit greatly," she added.
According to D. Šakalienė, it is planned that Lithuania would use the same ship models as Norway.
"So that we don't have such situations again, when some non-standardized model of some military equipment is purchased by Lithuania, and then we have many long-standing problems with logistics, supply, repairs, and so on," said the minister.
"One of the key things is Norway's decision on whether the same ship model would be used by Norwegians. Based on the way all the discussions are going now, we should definitely have decisions from Norway by the end of the year, and our decisions would also be related to that," she said.
Will talk about air defense
Vilnius has previously reached an agreement with Oslo on the acquisition of NASAMS air defense systems, and a contract has been signed with the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence and Aerospace.
"We are successfully going through all three stages. Next year we should receive the second stage of NASAMS air defense systems, and in 2028 - the third," said D. Šakalienė.
According to the minister, the country's participation in the air policing mission and the implementation of the rotational air defense model were also discussed with her Norwegian colleague.
At the time, TO Sandvik said that Norway would take on greater responsibility for national and regional security in the coming years.
"The bulk of our increased (defense - BNS) funding will be invested in the acquisition of frigates, submarines, warships, tanks and weapons," he said.
Speaking about Oslo's contribution to the Baltic air defense, TO Sandvik said that this would still be discussed with other Nordic countries.
"We will review this again when we have a full operational fleet of F-35 fighters. I will also discuss this with my Nordic colleagues, because now we have, I think, a total of 250 fighters and we need to coordinate our air policing strategy," the Norwegian minister said.
As previously reported by BNS, Lithuania, Norway and eight other European countries signed a memorandum last week aimed at strengthening the protection of critical underwater infrastructure in the Baltic Sea.
It envisages strengthening cooperation to increase the resilience of cables and pipelines laid on the seabed, ensure the security of supply chains, conduct underwater monitoring, and expand rapid repair capabilities.
Author Vilmantas Venckūnas