“I can say today a very important thing, from my point of view, that we are considering the acquisition of the IRIS-T medium-range air defence system from Germany,” Kasčiūnas told journalists.
He highlighted the system’s proven effectiveness in Ukraine and expressed the hope that it could be integrated into Lithuania’s armed forces in the coming years.
Despite Lithuania’s interest, Defence Minister Pistorius noted that Germany currently does not have IRIS-T systems available for immediate sale.
“We do not have the IRIS-T system yet, we gave it up ourselves for Ukraine, and we are now negotiating with our military industry to increase its production capacity,” Pistorius explained.
Kasčiūnas emphasized the reliability and growing capabilities of the German defence industry, noting that the IRIS-T system has demonstrated its value in Ukraine.
“We base our planning on this. Naturally, we are interested in the IRIS-T system, which proved its worth in Ukraine. We understand that it is not so easy now and there are production processes, capacities, but we are very clear in saying that this is a product that is of great interest to us,” he said.
This interest in the IRIS-T system aligns with regional defence strategies, as Estonia and Latvia signed a joint agreement in September last year to purchase IRIS-T systems from German manufacturer Diehl Defence for approximately 1 billion euros.
