Lithuania to Buy Weapons From U.S.

Europe Daily ^ | November 14 2002 | AP

[knighthawk]

VILNIUS, Lithuania (AP) — Lithuania agreed to buy 60 Stinger anti-aircraft missiles from the United States, some of which will be deployed to protect the ex-Soviet republic's sole nuclear plant in case of an attack, officials said Thursday.

The sophisticated, hand-held weapons will be the first of their kind sold to the Baltic states, which include Estonia and Latvia. All three former Soviet republics expect to win invitations to join NATO at an alliance summit next week in Prague.

The $31 million deal was signed by Lithuania's Defense Minister Linas Linkevicius and U.S. Ambassador to Lithuania John Tefft on Wednesday in Vilnius, the capital of this coastal nation of 3.5 million people.

Tefft said the purchase of the Stingers was a ``big step both to assure the defense of the people of Lithuania and to prepare Lithuania's armed forces to participate fully in NATO operations.''

Heat-seeking Stinger missiles are designed to shoot down low-flying airplanes and helicopters as well as cruise missiles.

``We're very happy about this,'' said Ona Tatolite, chief of procurement at Lithuania's Defense Ministry. ``This is a vote of confidence in our military; it means the U.S. trusts us.''

Tatolite said the Stingers would be delivered to Lithuania sometime in 2005, when Lithuania should already be a full member of NATO.

She said the missiles will reinforce the country's overall airborne defense and that an unspecified number would be deployed near the Ignalina Nuclear Power Plant, some 80 miles north of Vilnius.

[knighthawk]

Lithuania to Buy Stinger Missiles for Armed Forces

[knighthawk]

Europe-list

If people want on or off this list, please let me know.

[facedown]

Heat-seeking Stinger missiles are designed to shoot down low-flying airplanes and helicopters as well as cruise missiles.

I was very surprised to see cruse missiles listed here but went to the FAS site and sure enough it says cruise missiles!

[knighthawk]

That could be one of the reasons they bought them instead of using the Russian stuff (I bet they got plenty of SA-14's laying around).

[Deb]

Good for them. Welcome to the world economy Lithuania...and sorry about that commie thing.

[facedown]

From the other article:

The minister also refused to comment on the choice made between the Stingers and French-made Mistral missiles.

An even worse choice!

[knighthawk]

The Russians forced their tyrannic rule upon the Baltic states. They also rebelled directly after the commie rule fell in Moscow.

And Lithuania has got the world's only KGB museum, to show the brute communist oppression and horror:

http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/LITHUANIA/_KGB-museum.htm
http://www2.omnitel.net/ramunas/Lietuva/gallery/lt_gallery_3.shtml

A friend of mine went there last summer, and told about a closed section in which still 300 bodies had to be uncovered.

[Deb]

I was there for 10 weeks last year. The KGB museum is amazing. Fun Fact: It's located across the street from the Frank Zappa statue.

I encourage everyone to visit Vilnius and stay in the old town where the cathedrals and castles are. Wonderful.