Russia Today:
Lithuania plans to spend more than 100 million euros ($112 million) on the Norwegian- American air defense system – NASAMS, the country’s defense minister told local media. It is set to become the first shield of its kind on NATO’s eastern flank.
The medium-range NASAMS systems (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System) – the brainchild of Norway’s Kongsberg Gruppen and US defense contractor Raytheon – would cost up to 100 million euros, Lithuanian Defense Minister Juozas Olekas told BNS.
Two of the country armed force’s batteries would be equipped with the NASAMS systems, according to information provided to BNS by the ministry.
The start of talks between Lithuania and Norway on acquiring the system was announced in May.The talks are reportedly centered on the NASAMS-2 (National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile System 2) – a joint project of the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace and US Raytheon. The range of the surface-launched missiles used by NASAMS is reportedly over 15 kilometers (9.3 miles).
NASAMS systems are currently in operation in the US, Norway, Spain, Chile, Finland and the Netherlands.
This comes amid escalating tensions between the 28-member NATO alliance and Moscow following the conflict in eastern Ukraine in 2014.
On June 14, NATO agreed to deploy a new 4,000-strong force in the Baltic States and Poland in addition to the over 1,000 soldiers already stationed there on a rotational basis.
At a summit in Split, Croatia earlier this month, Czech Army Gen. Petr Pavel said that four battle groups will be sent to the region at different times in the first half of 2017.
