Lithuania needs all types of weapons for its national defence, including both tanks and drones, the country’s Chief of Defence General Valdemaras Rupšys has said, Report informs via LRT.
“We are also telling the political leadership that we need to have the capability to counterattack and take over objects. I am talking about mechanised units and tank units, which, in my opinion, are indispensable for Lithuania,” Rupšys said at a meeting of 1991 freedom defenders at the Seimas on Friday.
If politicians decide that it is too expensive for Lithuania to buy tanks, the Armed Forces will go to war with whatever they have, he said. “But in my opinion, we have to develop that capability and we have to have it,” he stressed.
Last summer, Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas said after a meeting of the State Defence Council that Lithuania had plans to acquire German Leopard tanks. According to him, a decision on the acquisition of tanks is due later this year.
Some politicians and experts question the need for tanks, arguing that it would be a huge financial commitment and that the effectiveness of these weapons in modern warfare is questionable.
“Today, we hear a lot of talk – tanks or drones, drones or artillery. This is strange talk. It cannot be this or that, it has to be everything,” Rupšys said, adding that the Lithuanian Armed Forces also plan to acquire UAVs.
Due to the former policy of disarmament and the war in Ukraine, both Lithuania and NATO have large gaps in armaments and capabilities, the Lithuanian chief of defence pointed out. He said, however, that a detailed NATO collective defence plan has already been prepared.
“We and the allies need to fill in the gaps as soon as possible, to produce, buy, deploy, train troops and know how we will use these capabilities,” Rupšys said.
Under the plan, he noted, the Lithuanian Armed Forces are focusing on land-based capabilities, which is why a light infantry division is to be created by 2030. The goal is for it to operate alongside two other NATO divisions in the event of war.
“If two NATO divisions are deployed here from day one, one will probably be a tank division, a heavy division with up to 25,000 troops, and the other one will probably be lighter, and we would have a third division as a wartime structure,” Rupšys said.
