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Lithuania Land Force
Lithuania Land Force
	; Insignia of Lithuanian Land Force
Active	1918 - 1940; 1990 - present
Country	Lithuania
Branch	Army
Type	Land force
Part of	Lithuanian Armed Forces
Garrison/HQ	Vilnius
Equipment	Lithuanian army equipment
Commanders
Current; commander	Brigadier General Vytautas Jonas Žukas
Chief of Staff	Lieutenant Colonel Sergejus Draščiukas
Insignia
Flag of Lithuanian Land Force

Structure of the Lithuanian Army

The Lithuanian Land Force consist of one brigade and six battalion-size units. The core of the Land forces is Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade which consists of five battalions named after Lithuanian Grand Dukes as the tradition of the Lithuanian Armed Forces goes.

[edit] Defence Reform

Planned structure of the Lithuanian Land forces in 2012:

Professional soldiers: 8,450;
Conscript soldiers: 1,600;
Volunteers and active reserve: 6,500.

Total: 16,750.

The minister of national defence of Lithuania has signed a law that holds conscript calling to the army as Lithuania creates a professional army.

[edit] Units

Iron Wolf Mechanised Infantry Brigade:

King Mindaugas Mechanised Infantry Battalion

Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion

Grand Duchess Birutė Motorised Infantry Battalion

Grand Duke Kęstutis Motorised Infantry Battalion

General Romualdas Giedraitis artillery battalion

Duke Vaidotas Forward Support Battalion

Other Units:

Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion

Staff Battalion

Vilnius Guard Company

[edit] Equipment

Main article: Lithuanian army equipment

The standard service assault rifle of the Lithuanian Armed Forces is the Heckler & Koch G36 and the standard pistol is the Glock 17. The Special Operations Forces are equipped with a variety of weapons, including MP-5 submachine guns with various modifications, G36K carbines and sniper rifles. The Lithuanian Armed Forces are also equipped with machine guns, including the GPMG MG-3, the FN MAG, and the 12.7mm (.50 cal.) M2 Browning machine gun. They also employ AT-4 and Carl Gustav anti-tank grenade launchers, HK GMG high-velocity grenade launchers, and low-velocity AG-36 under-the-barrel grenade launchers, in addition to light and heavy mortars and M101 howitzers.
Army uses high-technology lithuanian-made tactical automatisated commanding and controling informational systems (TAVVIS).

[edit] Reserves

National defence is based on reserve forces and mobilisation forces. New minister plans to increase national defence capabillities by making all males from 18 to 24 take 7 week military basic training. After that the person will be added to the military reserves. Now Lithuania has around 100,000 soldiers in reserves.

[edit] International missions

Lithuania participates in international missions in Kosovo, Afghanistan and Bosnia. The main force is in Afghanistan. Right now there are more than 200 soldiers serving on foreign soil. Government plans to increase the number of troops serving in international operations in 2009 to 300. Mainly they will send more special operation forces.

Location	Mission	Size
Afghanistan	ISAF	268
Bosnia	EUFOR-ALTHEA	20

[edit] References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Military of Lithuania

Lithuanian Ministry of Defence site
Stefan Marx, 'Lithuania's Defence Structure,' Jane's Intelligence Review, September 1993, p.407-409
Lithuanian army equipment