Fifty more Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) will be delivered to Lithuania on Thursday, Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas has said.
“On the occasion of the Armed Forces Day, our soldiers are set to receive a major gift as a second batch of 50 JLTVs will be delivered to Lithuania tomorrow,” Anušauskas wrote on Facebook on Wednesday.
“They will be added to the 50 JLTVs the army is already using. This makes us more mobile and even harder to bite for a potential enemy,” he added.
Read more: Lithuania marks Armed Forces day – in pictures
In his words, most of the new JLTVs will be equipped with the Common Remotely Operated Weapon Stations (CROWS) that will allow the troops to operate the heavy 12.7mm machine gun from inside the armoured vehicle.
“Daylight and thermal cameras and a laser rangefinder will make the powerful machine gun even more effective,” Anušauskas said.
Lithuania expects the total number of its JLTVs to reach 500 by 2025.
In 2019, Lithuania signed a contract for 200 American JLTVs. In October this year, the contract was renewed, increasing the number of JLTVs to 500.
The contract is worth around 334 million euros, with around 5 percent coming from US assistance funds.
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