General will pay a visit to the Lithuanian Great Hetman Jonušas Radvila Training Regiment in Rukla to meet with German and other allies’ forces deployed as the NATO enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) Battlegroup and to observe a joint training operation of the NATO eFP troops and Lithuanian infantry.
On March 24 the guest will have formal meeting with Minister of National Defence Raimundas Karoblis, Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas, other representatives of the Ministry of National Defence and the Lithuanian Armed Forces at the Chief of Defence’s Office. General Volker Wieker will be briefed on the security situation in the region, capabilities of the Lithuanian armed Forces and plans for their development, and analysis of informational threats, particularly those directed against the allied military presence in our country. Further plans and prospects for bilateral cooperation will also be addressed.
Lithuanian-German defence cooperation
Germany is one of Lithuania’s key partners in military cooperation. The Lithuanian Armed Forces is equipped with G-36 assault rifle bought from German manufacturer Heckler & Koch GmbH, while the major part of the present or scheduled car fleet of the Lithuanian Armed Forces is also comprised of German-made vehicles.
Lithuania is procuring from the Bundeswehr sixteen PzH2000 (Panzerhaubitze 2000) self-propelled 155mm howitzers, twenty-six M577 armoured command post vehicles, six BPZ2 armoured recovery vehicles, and other equipment, on the basis of a contract signed with Germany in September 2015.
The contract also covers training for Lithuanian soldiers and support for the arrangement of maintenance service.
This and next year 168 used tracked armoured vehicles (medical support, mortar systems, engineer support, command, personnel carriers) of M113 and M577 types in good condition will be delivered to Lithuania from Germany. The vehicles will be added to the fleet of M113 and M577 armoured vehicles bought from Germany and used by the Lithuanian Armed Forces.
In August 2016 Ministry of National Defence and Dutch-German ARTEC consortium and the Organisation for Joint Armament Cooperation (OCCAR) signed a procurement contract for new Boxer infantry fighting vehicles. 88 new infantry fighting vehicles will bought on the basis of the contract. First of them will be delivered to Lithuania in late 2017, and the contract will be fulfilled completely by 2021.
In December 2016 a contract was signed on procurement of OTO Melara naval guns (two) and other surplus naval equipment (communications, cryptographic) from Germany. The equipment and guns will be mounted on the Flyvefisken-class patrol ship bought from Denmark.
Over 300 Lithuanian soldiers have graduated from various education institutions of the Bundeswehr since 1994.
Germany has been contributing actively to international exercises and rotational presence in Lithuania since 2011.
Germany is the most active participant of the NATO Baltic Air Policing Mission that has provided five rotations since 2012.
At the meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Warsaw on 7-8 July 2016 Germany committed to lead a NATO enhanced Forward Presence Battalion Battlegroup in Lithuania.
