Meeting former U.S. Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy today Vice Minister of National Defence Žilvinas Tomkus thanked for his personal contribution to the agreement to deploy an uninterrupted rotation U.S. force in Lithuania.
“The uninterrupted U.S. force presence in Lithuania and the region is a critical factor of deterrence, therefore we are working seriously on improving military infrastructure and ensuring every kind of necessary Host Nation Support for the Allied troops,” said Vice Minister of National Defence Ž. Tomkus at the meeting.
Ž. Tomkus and Ryan D. McCarthy also discussed the importance of assistance to Ukraine: Vice Minister stressed that Lithuania will continue supporting Ukraine like it did and how necessary it was to help Ukraine achieve the decisive success on the battlefield soon. Lithuania’s military assistance to Ukraine since the war was started now amounts to over 525 million euros, and the support generally, including humanitarian, makes up over 1.4 GDP of Lithuania.
The U.S. is Lithuania’s strategic partner and one of the key Allies for the Baltic security. The Americans are actively engaged in ensuring the assurance measures in the Baltic states to strengthen regional security and stability. The United States contributes to our defence with troops, equipment and finance. The United States is also one of Lithuania’s principal partners in defence equipment acquisition. Contracts on HIMARS and AMRAAM missiles were signed with the U.S. side in the recent years, while earlier defence acquisition contracts cover 500 armored Joint Light Tactical Vehicles JLTV, Black Hawk helicopters, Switchblade loitering ammunition. Apart from that, Lithuania has also been acquiring the Javelin antitank-rocket system and different communication equipment from the United States for years. U.S. Army battalions have been rotated in Lithuania since 2019. The latest rotation of American troops is the Hounds Battalion (3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment (3-67) and the Battle Kings Battalion (1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery (1-9).
Former U.S. Secretary of the Army Ryan D. McCarthy is in Lithuania for the Baltic Military Conference taking place on March 21–22 to discuss the most relevant security and defence issues with the European and U.S. tops defence experts, senior officers, representatives of Lithuanian and foreign defence institutions, NATO and academia.
Photo credit: : SSgt Arnas Čemerka
