On February 21 Minister of National Defence Arvydas Anušauskas had a meeting with the recently appointed United States Ambassador to Lithuania Kara McDonald on the regional security situation and the most pressing issues of bilateral defence cooperation.
Minister underscored that continued uninterrupted presence of the U.S. combat capabilities in Lithuania was the priority for the Ministry of National Defence, therefore the effort was made to improve infrastructure and ensure every kind of host nation support for allied troops in Lithuania.
“You have come in the times of tensions and multiple challenges in our region. We can feel your support and presence and our cooperation has never been closer. Soon, when the military infrastructure is expanded, we look forward to being able to better meet the military readiness needs of the Lithuanian and Allied troops. We will provide better conditions and new infrastructure to the U.S. troops,” said A. Anušauskas.
Minister also expressed gratitude for the persistent U.S. support to capability development of the Baltic states, which, according to A. Anušauskas, increased deterrence in the region and accelerated filling in the capability gaps. Another topic addressed with the Ambassador was assistance to Ukraine.
“It was a pleasure to meet with Minister Anušauskas and reaffirm to him the strength of the U.S. commitment to the transatlantic security and our Ally Lithuania. We welcome Lithuania’s investment in Armed Forces modernization and the significant assistance to Ukraine. We also appreciate the Host Nation Support hospitality of Lithuania to the rotational U.S. Army units deployed in the Pabradė Training Area,” said Ambassador K. McDonald after the meeting.
The United States is one of the key Allies for security in the Baltic region and one of Lithuania’s principal partners in defence acquisitions. Lithuania signed contracts on acquisition of the HIMARS artillery systems and the AMRAAM missile acquisitions from the U.S. last year, that comes after the earlier agreements on 500 units of Joint Light Tactical Vehicles JLTVs, four Black Hawk helicopters, Switchblade drones. Lithuania has also been purchasing the Javelin antitank missile systems and various communications equipment from the U.S for many years.
Rotational U.S. battalions have been maintaining an uninterrupted presence in Lithuania since 2019. The current units serving in Pabradė are the Hounds Battalion (3rd Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment (3-67) and the Battle Kings Battalion (1st Battalion, 9th Field Artillery (1-9).
