“We have plans to assess certain long-range air defence systems and buy them in the medium term. That assessment is actually underway,” the minister told TV3 TV Thursday, without specifying when the delivery could be expected.
Last summer, the Netherlands stationed its Patriot air defence system in Lithuania for exercises Baltic Connection 24 that took place between 7 and 19 July.
NATO agreed to apply a rotational air defence model in the Baltic States at the Vilnius summit in June 2023.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces had said the model would be operational alongside the NATO Air Policing Mission and provide to allies defined principles for rotational deployments and integration of ground-based, missile defence systems and additional aircraft starting with the eastern flank of NATO. It will enable building readiness for air defence tasks, improve level of readiness of the air capabilities and overall interoperability, according to the military.
In a phone conversation with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof in February, President Gitanas Nausėda expressed his hope that the Netherlands will return to Lithuania with Patriot air defence systems this year.