„HIMARS has been delayed. Now I cannot say how many, for how long. This is purely the American side, probably related to their industry. But our crews have already completed both training and shooting, so we are waiting for their arrival. But anytime, anything could happen,“ R. Vaikšnoras said in an interview with LRT television on Thursday.
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„I would also like to emphasize to the public not to be very afraid, because there are agreements that since there are delays for various reasons, it is possible to temporarily invite the same systems to Lithuania, which can cover certain capability gaps,“ he added.
According to the military commander, an agreement has been made with the US Michigan National Guard for the possible temporary delivery of such systems: „They have the same systems and can come to our exercises.“
It was previously planned that the Americans would deliver HIMARS systems to Lithuania by the end of this year.
As BNS wrote, Lithuania signed a $495 million contract with the US at the end of 2022 for the acquisition of eight HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems. In April this year, a contract supplement was signed for the acquisition of a second HIMARS battery for about another $280 million.
The contract will be implemented by the US company Lockheed Martin.
It was announced that the first battery should reach Lithuania this year, and the full combat capability of the HIMARS systems was expected to be achieved by 2027.
Over the past three years, Lithuania has purchased weapons and equipment from the US worth about 2 billion euros.
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