On January 22 Director General of the Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) and National Armament Director of the Kingdom of Sweden Göran Mårtensson paid a visit to Lithuania at the invitation of Director of the Defence Materiel Agency under the Minsitry of National Defence Sigitas Dzekunskas. The meeting was also attended by Defence Attaché of Sweden to Lithuania Lt Col Lars Eklind who assumed the duties in spring 2019.
In 2011 the Ministry of National Defence and the Ministry of Defence of Sweden signed a bilateral cooperation contract regarding defence acquisitions. At the meeting Lithuanian and Swedish defence acquisition plans and major acquisition projects for 2020–2029 were presented on the basis of the said contract. The meeting officials also discussed possible joint acquisitions in the future and the areas the countries could share experience in.
Joint acquisition projects help to reduce administrative costs and to coordinate positions in negotiations with potential service or equipment providers, and make the acquisitions more cost-efficient.
Sweden and Lithuania are continuously cooperating in military area: international military exercises, different courses, exchange programmes are held, support to Ukraine is rendered, etc. Sweden’s company Saab is upgrading RBS-70 anti-aircraft equipment for the Lithuanian Armed Forces and provides spares for Karl-Gustaf anti-tank rifles on the basis of a contract with the Defence Materiel Agency under the MoD. According to the guests, Sweden’s defence budget significantly increased in the recent past and now amounts to approx. SEK 84 billion (or approx. EUR 8 billion). That has brought challenges that require finding ways to efficiently use the financial resources for national defence. Cooperation with partners, including Lithuania, helps in the matter. Also, the number of personnel in the Swedish Armed Forces is increasing: the number of conscripts is planned to grow from 5,000 to 8,000 until 2025.
After the meeting at the Ministry of National Defence the Swedish guests wished to visit the subsidiary of NT Service telecommunications company in Vilnius: representatives of the company presented to them the anti-UAV system successfully used by many countries that the company had design.
Director General of the Defence Materiel Administration of the Kingdom of Sweden Göran Mårtensson invited to continue the cooperation by addressing concrete joint acquisitions. More common meeting points are expected to appear in the future for joint acquisitions in order to strengthen both countries defence.
Photo credits: Giedrė Maksimovicz /MoD
