NASAMS (Press photo: Kongsberg)

Lithuania is beefing up its air defences. On 4 October it announced buying an additional NASAMS system, made by Kongsberg of Norway, to improve its short- to medium-range ground-based anti-air protection. The deal comes on top of other purchases with Swedish SAAB and Polish Mesko.

The first NASAMS arrived in Lithuania in 2017, and this system will also be upgraded as part of the newest deal. A second and third NASAMS are now on their way, expected in 2028 at the latest. According to Kongsberg, the newest deal with Lithuania is worth EUR 193 million. The NASAMS can hit airborne targets up to 30 or 50 kilometres away, that fly up to 21 or 35 kilometres high, depending on the version of the system. The NASAMS radar can track objects as far as 120 kilometres away.

Mobile Swedish short-range air defence systems

From Sweden comes the RBS70 NG mobile short-range surface-to-air missile system, that SAAB puts onto JLTV vehicles produced by the US company Oshkosh before it ships the order to Lithuania. The first vehicles of this EUR 147-million deal are planned to arrive next year, the last by 2027. The RBS70 NG is able to hit anything airborne between 250 and 9,000 metres away, up to 5 kilometres in the air. The deal was already announced in July, but reportedly officially confirmed at the beginning of October. Lithuania already operates non-mobile versions of the RBS70, ordered in 2022 and delivered in May 2024.

The mobile SAAB RBS70 NG short-range air defence system (Press photo: SAAB)
The mobile SAAB RBS70 NG short-range air defence system (Press photo: SAAB)

Polish shoulder-launched air-defence missiles

In July Poland and Lithuania jointly announced acquiring Piorun shoulder-launched air-defence missile systems, from Mesko in Poland. The Piorun (meaning Thunderbolt in Polish) can hit low-flying drones, helicopters, aircraft and some missiles up to 4 kilometres high at a distance up to 6.5 kilometres. The deal is reportedly worth EUR 10 million for the Lithuanian part, but the number of systems has not been disclosed. | © 2024 Marcel Burger, nordicreporter.com. Featured photo: the NASAMS system (Press photo: Kongsberg)