Lithuania is negotiating with the US defence industry giant Northrop Grumman on a 30mm ammunition production line in the country, Defence Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas has confirmed.
“We are talking. [...] More about the production line,” he told BNS in an interview, when asked to confirm that talks were underway with Northrop Grumman.
Kasčiūnas named the state-owned Giraitė Armaments Factory as a possible production site for the ammunition.
“Without going into details, all options are open. [...] I think the production of 30mm ammunition could be integrated into Giraitė,” he said.
In an interview with the Verslo Žinios business newspaper earlier this week, the defence minister said negotiations were underway with two potential major international investors in arms and ammunition production in Lithuania.
The first investor, he said, would produce 30mm ammunition for infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), and the second would manufacture IFVs, which Lithuania would also purchase.
“If we buy tracked [IFVs], the investment would also be in tracked ones,” Kasčiūnas told BNS.
The minister expects more information about the investors’ plans later this year.
Kasčiūnas first mentioned talks with Northrop Grumman in May, and Robertas Juodka, a board member at the Lithuanian Defence and Security Industry Association, also confirmed contacts with this investor to BNS last Wednesday.
According to Juodka, the investment in the production of 30mm ammunition would depend on its type and production volumes, but it would be smaller than in the Rheinmetall factory.
Northrop Grumman is the world’s largest manufacturer of medium-calibre combat and training ammunition and weapon systems.
Germany’s defense industry giant Rheinmetall plans to start construction of its 180-million-euro 155mm artillery ammunition factory in Lithuania this autumn. A site near Baisogala, a town in the northern district of Radviliškis, has already been approved for the project.
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