On 13 August, the Government of the Republic of Lithuania approved a plan to finance an advance payment for the purchase of Leopard 2A8 tanks for a future Lithuanian Land Forces tank battalion. Vilnius agreed to increase the defence loan ceiling to €800 million, with €461 million of this allocated as an advance towards the December 2024 agreement to acquire 44 tanks for €950 million.
The loan increase for 2025 will raise Lithuania’s defence spending to about 4% of GDP, with a planned rise to 5.2% in 2026. The December agreement will come into effect once the Seimas approves the financing programme, expected in the coming weeks, enabling the signing of the delivery contract in the third quarter of this year.
According to the Ministry of National Defence of the Republic of Lithuania, this will ensure delivery of all 44 tanks before 2030. This will allow the formation of a division within the Lithuanian Land Forces, with the battalion forming a key element despite its small size, as Lithuania has historically had either minimal or no armoured forces.
Increased defence funding will also bring earlier tank availability than initially planned. In December last year, the expectation was that the final tanks would not arrive until 2035, with only one company purchased initially due to budget constraints, and the remainder after 2030. The additional funds now make it possible to acquire the entire battalion at once, a significant step given that the planned 2025 defence budget was just over €2.4 billion.