Lithuanian Army

Lithuanian Land Forces Sausumos pajėgos
Coat of arms of the Lithuanian Land Forces
active	1918-1940 Realignment in 1991
Country	Lithuania
Armed forces	Lithuanian Army
Type	Armed forces ( army )
motto	Vienybėje jėga, tikėjime - pergalė!
march	Mes kariai ir mes gynėjai
management
Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces	Defense Minister (in case of war: President of the Republic of Lithuania )
Military Commander of the Armed Forces	Lieutenant General Valdemaras Rupšys
Land Forces Commander	Brigadier General Raimundas Vaikšnoras

The Lithuanian Land Forces ( Lithuanian Sausumos pajėgos ) are the most important branch of the Lithuanian Army . The commander of the land forces is Brigadier General Raimundas Vaikšnoras (since July 2019) .

The infantry brigades Geležinis Vilkas (Iron Wolf) and Žemaitija ( Samogitia ) form the core of the land forces . In addition to the regular units, the volunteer forces (Lithuanian Savanorių pajėgos ) are also subordinate to the army.

history

There was a Lithuanian army between 1918 (23 November 1918 is the official founding date) and 1940 . The funds that the state made available to the military at the time were substantial for the small country. At that time the army had significantly more infantry and artillery battalions than it does today and was equipped with tanks (the army in total had 17 generals, 1,800 officers and 30,078 NCOs and soldiers).

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  Lithuanian soldiers in Vievis (1920)

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  Lithuanian soldiers after an exercise (1921)

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  Lithuanian Renault FT tank (1924)

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  Motorcycle unit (1928)

Nevertheless, after the defeat of the protecting power France , Lithuania, like the other Baltic countries, had to join the Soviet Union in 1940 under massive pressure and threat of violence . The independent Lithuanian armed forces (and thus also the army) were then dissolved.

Lithuania was only able to regain its independence in 1991. The country introduced general conscription in 1992 (suspended between September 2008 and March 2015). The Russian army withdrew from Lithuania in 1993. Lithuania has participated in NATO's Partnership for Peace program since 1994 and became a member of NATO on March 29, 2004. Since then, and especially since the conflict in Ukraine , efforts to bring the army's equipment and standards up to the standards of the other partner countries have been intensified.

Land Forces Commander

Raimundas Vaikšnoras (2019)

Since the establishment of its own high command in 2001, the Lithuanian land forces have been led by the following officers:

Surname	period of service	comment
Valdas tutkus	2001-2004	thereafter commander of the armed forces
Arvydas Pocius	2004-2007
Jonas Vytautas Žukas	2008–2012	provisionally since 2007
Almanta's Leika	2012-2016
Valdemaras Rupšys	2016-2019	thereafter commander of the armed forces
Raimundas Vaikšnoras	since July 2019

organization

structure

Since the restructuring of the army at the beginning of 2016, it has been structured as follows (the stationing of the units in brackets):

Organizational structure of the Lithuanian land forces

• Mechanized Infantry Brigade Geležinis Vilkas ( Rukla )
  • Hussar battalion King Mindaugas ( Panevėžys )
  • Uhlan Battalion Grand Duchess Birutė ( Alytus )
  • Mechanized Infantry Battalion Grand Duke Algirdas (Rukla)
  • Mechanized Infantry Battalion Prince Vaidotas (Rukla)
  • Artillery Battalion General Romualdas Giedraitis (Rukla)
  • Logistics Battalion (Rukla)
• Motorized Infantry Brigade Žemaitija ( Klaipėda )
  • Dragoon Battalion Grand Duke Butigeidis (Klaipėda)
  • Mechanized Infantry Battalion Grand Prince Kestutis ( Tauragė )
  • Infantry battalion Prince Margiris ( Radviliškis , planned Šiauliai )
  • Artillery Battalion Brigadier General Motiejaus Pečiulionio ( Pajūris )
• Aukštaitija Light Infantry Brigade ( Vilnius )
  • three reserve light infantry battalions
  • Artillery Reserve Battalion
• Volunteer Forces ( Vilnius )
• Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion ( Kaunas )
• Juozas Lukša Training Center (Rukla)

Ranks

	Generals			Staff officers			Officers
Rank	Generolas guiding fantasies	Generolas majoras	Brigados generolas	Pulkininkas	Pulkininkas guide fantasies	Majoras	Kapitonas	Vyresnysis guiding fantasies	Leadership fantasies
	Lieutenant General	Major general	Brigadier General	Colonel	Lieutenant colonel	major	Captain	First lieutenant	lieutenant

	NCOs
Rank	Seržantas majoras	Viršila	Štabo seržantas	Štabo seržantas specialistas	Vyresnysis seržantas	Vyresnysis seržantas specialistas	Seržantas	Seržantas specialistas	Grandinis
	Sergeant Major	Staff Sergeant	Sergeant Major	Sergeant Major	Oberfeldwebel / Feldwebel	sergeant	Staff NCO / NCO	Sergeant	Corporal

	Teams
Rank	Vyresnysis eilinis	Eilinis	Jaunesnysis eilinis
	Hauptgefreiter / Obergefreiter	Private	soldier

Equipment and crew numbers

equipment

The Lithuanian land forces use trucks made by Daimler ( Unimog ) and Sisu (E13TP). The M113 armored vehicle is available as an armored vehicle . The army does not have battle tanks. The army still has M101 howitzers and mortars (including the M1064 120 mm mortar carrier). Existing anti-tank weapons are the FFV Carl Gustaf and the Javelin Medium Antiarmor Weapon System .

According to plans for the years 2014 to 2023, two infantry battalions should be equipped with modern armored vehicles by 2020 . The plan initially considered by the Lithuanian government to acquire German GTK Boxers through a government-to-government deal was rejected by the German side in February 2015. Although the sale at government level (which, among other things, would have avoided the long-term testing procedure for arms exports) did not materialize, the procurement commission in the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense also spoke out in favor of the vehicle. On December 11, 2015, it was announced that Lithuania would purchase 88 boxers (84 wheeled armored personnel carriers and four command vehicles), of which the first 14 should be delivered in the second half of 2017. On August 22, 2016, the delivery contract for the vehicles , equipped with a turret with a 30 mm cannon, was signed by the Lithuanian Defense Minister and representatives of the manufacturer consortium. This variant of the boxer, under the name Vilkas , is to be used with the Uhlan Battalion Grand Duchess Birutė and the Infantry Battalion Grand Duke Algirdas. Lithuania will pay EUR 385.6 million for the 88 vehicles. The first two training vehicles were delivered in December 2017. In addition to another training vehicle, the 88 emergency vehicles are to be delivered between 2019 and 2021.

Furthermore, Lithuania and Germany reached an agreement in May 2015 that Lithuania would acquire 16 self-propelled howitzers 2000 with appropriate command and control equipment from the Bundeswehr . A contract for 16 guns and another five for training purposes and as a reserve material was signed at the end of September. In addition, the delivery of 21 armored command vehicles M577A2 (plus another five as material reserves) and six armored recovery vehicles are planned. Lithuania will spend a total of 58.3 million euros on equipping and making it operational by 2019. The first two guns arrived in Lithuania in mid-2016. Since Lithuania also had a shortage of armored command and support vehicles overall, a contract was concluded in November 2016 for the purchase of a further 168 M577s from German stocks. The command, ambulance, fire control and training vehicles are to be delivered between 2017 and 2018 and allocated to the various battalions according to their needs.

In addition, the army's transport capacities are to be expanded, modernized and standardized over the next few years by purchasing 340 Unimog trucks. A corresponding contract with Daimler AG (order value 60 million euros) provides for delivery between 2016 and 2021.

Team numbers

In times of peace, the army has over 8,100 men and women, and in the event of a crisis it also has the voluntary armed forces (lit. savanorių pajėgos ) with around 10,000 reservists.

See also

• Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian Brigade

Web links

Commons : Lietuvos sausumos pajėgos  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Website of ground forces (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Vadovybė - overview on the website of the Lithuanian Land Forces, accessed on July 24, 2019 (Lithuanian)
2. ↑ 1918 m. lapkričio 23 d. atkurta LR kariuomenė - Brief history on the Lithuanian Armed Forces website, accessed on December 22, 2015 (Lithuanian).
3. ↑ Ginkluotė ir karinė technika - Equipment overview on the Lithuanian Armed Forces website, accessed October 2, 2014 (Lithuanian).
4. ↑ Online report from February 23, 2015, accessed on February 28, 2015.
5. ↑ Lithuania selects ARTEC Boxer ( Memento from December 19, 2015 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 19, 2015 (English).
6. ↑ Online notification of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense of August 22, 2016, accessed on August 22, 2016 (English).
7. ↑ Online notification of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense of December 15, 2017, accessed on December 18, 2017 (English).
8. ↑ Online notification of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense of September 29, 2015, accessed on October 4, 2015 (English).
9. ↑ Online notification of the Lithuanian Ministry of Defense of June 24, 2016, accessed on August 11, 2016 (English).
10. ↑ Lithuania buys 168 M577 command vehicles from Germany ( Memento from January 15, 2017 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 10, 2017 (English).
11. ↑ Lithuania orders more Unimog trucks ( Memento from February 22, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 21, 2017 (English).
12. ^ International Institute for Strategic Studies: The Military Balance. 2002