Lithuanian Navy. What is it like, the Lithuanian army? Paramilitary forces of other departments

From the very beginning of its independence, since 1991, Lithuania set a course for Western structures, both economic and defense, and overcame the path to them quite quickly. There are several reasons for this, including a relatively small population, a convenient strategic location, and certain traditions. Now the technology of European integration of this country to some extent serves as a model for the current leadership of Ukraine, which has set the task of transferring its armed forces to NATO standards. Lithuanian experience in this matter is invaluable, although it is unlikely that Kyiv will be able to copy it directly. First, you need to develop a military doctrine and compare it with the goals of the army of this Baltic country. This process will be of interest not only to Ukrainians.

Objectives of the Lithuanian Armed Forces

The task of the Lithuanian Army in the event of an attack by the enemy (meaning Russia, who else?) was formulated by the representative of the Department of Strategic Communication, Lieutenant Colonel Arturas Jasinskasov in the fall of 2013. It is quite simple - if a war starts, then you need to somehow hold out for a month, conducting “asymmetrical” actions, and then the NATO bloc will step in and help, and most likely, free you. It is difficult to say how realistic it is to achieve such a result in the hypothetical situation described by a high-ranking officer. North Atlantic analysts suggest that the Russian Armed Forces would need only three days to completely occupy not only Latvia, but also Lithuania and Estonia at the same time. It is possible that “asymmetry” refers to partisan and sabotage operations, which, as is known, cause damage to very strong armies, but nothing is said about this in the program statement. Instead, the emphasis is on the classic military organizational structure, with ground units, artillery, air force and navy.

Ground troops

In 2011, Lithuania's defense budget was allocated $360 million, that is, approximately a million dollars a day. There are approximately 10,640 career military personnel in the country; there are another 6,700 trained specialists in the reserve who have experience in army service, including that gained in the Soviet Army, which is 14,600 soldiers and officers. Of the total number of peacetime personnel, ground units number 8,200 military personnel, organizationally divided into two motorized, two mechanized and one engineer battalions. The equipment is mixed, partly old Soviet (BRDM-2), but mostly American (M113A1), with a total of 187 light armored vehicles. The Lithuanian army also has artillery, these are 120-mm mortars (61 pieces), German Carl Gustaf guns (100 pieces), 18 anti-aircraft guns, as well as man-portable anti-tank and anti-aircraft systems.

Air Force

980 soldiers and officers serving at three air force bases in five squadrons are considered aviators in Lithuania. At the same time, there are only sixteen units of flying equipment. This is not much, but the Ukrainian troops, for example, should not worry too much, since after the failures over the Donbass, Kyiv has little more left, if not much. There are practically no fighters, attack aircraft and bombers in the Lithuanian Air Force, unless you count the combat training Czech L-39ZA, capable of delivering strikes in the event of absolute air supremacy. There are also L-410 transport aircraft (small, 2 pcs.) and C-27J (3 pcs.), as well as Mi-8 helicopters (9 pcs.). That's all Lithuania's air power.

Fleet

There are 530 sailors serving in the Lithuanian Navy. They make up the coastal personnel, the crews of one small Soviet-built Project 1124M anti-submarine ship, three Fluvefisken class patrol boats (Aukshaitis, Dzukas and Žemaitis), three Storm-class patrol boats (Skalvis, M-53 and M -54), as well as the headquarters ship, also called “Skalvis”. There is also a tugboat, a hydrographic ship and three more small border patrol boats (N-21-N23). The composition of the Lithuanian fleet is currently comparable to the Ukrainian one. There are 540 sailors serving in the Coast Guard.

Mobilization potential and equipment in peacetime

In the event of the outbreak of war, healthy men from 16 to 49 years old are subject to mobilization; there are more than 910 thousand of them in the country (as of 2011), and approximately the same number of women of the same age. In peacetime, the armed forces are recruited according to a mixed contract-conscription principle. At the same time, the number of people willing to serve voluntarily has recently decreased significantly, and of the 23.5 thousand people reaching conscription age (in the range of 19-26 years), only two-thirds remain in the country, the rest leave to work in Europe. In connection with this circumstance, Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite resumed conscription into the army, which had not previously been practiced.

Combat training

It is difficult, if not impossible, to train a highly professional military man in 9 months, but given the limited availability of equipment, it should be assumed that the bulk of conscripts enter motorized rifle units. An exercise with the loud name “Fire Salvo - 2016” is planned for this summer, in which self-propelled guns of the battalion named after. Romualdas Giedraitis under the command of Lieutenant General Ausrius Buikus. There are four such cars in Lithuania, and the Germans will bring the same number for this occasion; their arrival is expected in May. For the first time in many years, these maneuvers will be held with the participation of conscripts. The shooting involves practicing suppression of mock enemy batteries at distances of up to 40 km. German equipment is being given as a test, and based on the results of the exercises, a decision will be made on the purchase of another 16 units of self-propelled artillery units that were used by the Bundeswehr. This is where a very interesting pattern begins to emerge.

How to spend Lithuania's defense budget?

Lithuania spends significantly less than the NATO two percent of its state budget on defense. She is not alone in this; many states of the Alliance ignore this requirement, which upsets the leadership of the main members, and also the sponsors of this organization. Therefore, Vilnius is constantly being encouraged to acquire at least some models, not new ones, but at least devastating in NATO style (as today’s owners of old weapons assure). In particular, out of 16 Bundeswehr installations, three will have to be immediately disassembled for spare parts in order to repair the rest, which will certainly scare away all aggressors, and primarily Russian ones. Among the enviable and extremely necessary acquisitions are also M577 command and staff vehicles (26 units), produced at different times (mainly in the 60s), armored repair and recovery vehicles BPz-2 (6 units) and other time-tested military units. technicians who have served their time in “first-class” armies and now have a 100% chance of serving the cause of democracy at the forefront of defense.

Not funny

The Lithuanian army could serve as a joke for its closest neighbors, but humor towards it is extremely rare. The Germans, Dutch or French keep a serious expression on their faces because they do not want to reveal their true intentions and goals. They need to sell as much obsolete equipment as possible, so they do not interfere in issues of organization, general purpose and other internal affairs of Lithuania. Is the general holding the position of battalion commander? So what, you know better. Are you calling up Salag for nine months? Your case is probably better this way. The Russian military also has no reason to laugh at the Lithuanians. The more junk they buy, the calmer it will be on the western border. The Ukrainians also purchased Saxon armored vehicles in Britain...

The small arms and anti-tank weapons of the Lithuanian army actually meet the specified criterion - soldiers have M-14 and M-16 automatic rifles, Colt and Glock pistols, and even the Javelin anti-tank missile system. But the means of transportation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces on the ground are not so good, since most of them are outdated BTR-60, BRDM-2, MT-LB of Soviet production.

Of all the types and branches of the military, the country's naval forces (Navy) are the weakest. Although the republic has strong maritime traditions, the core of the Lithuanian Navy's combat strength is two Hunt-class minesweepers made in Great Britain and several Norwegian (Storm-class) and Danish (Flyvefisken-class) patrol boats. Moreover, none of the ships has missile weapons, although a developed complex of guided missile weapons on board is the main trend of naval forces in the 21st century.

Compared to the Russian Baltic Fleet, this mosquito squadron looks extremely small, however, the main problem is not the number of Lithuanian minesweepers and patrol boats (there are only 12 of them), but their quality.

Let's consider the combat capabilities of Lithuanian warships.

British minesweeper Hunt

Ships of this type began to be built in 1980.

The basic minesweeper with a displacement of 615 tons, a length of 60 meters and a width of 10 meters has a fiberglass hull, a two-shaft power plant (two diesel engines with a total power of 3,800 horsepower) and a speed of about 35 kilometers per hour. Crew - 45 people. For a more complete description, numbers and naval terms cannot be avoided.

The main armament of the minesweeper: one Bofors anti-aircraft gun mount of 40 mm caliber (from the Second World War) and two artillery mounts of 20 mm caliber.

Hunt's radio-electronic weapons include a navigation radar station, the Matilda UAR-1 electronic warfare system, a Type 193M mine-hunting hydroacoustic station, and a second hydroacoustic station - the Mil Cross mine warning system.

To search for mines, the minesweeper carries a team of scuba divers and two mine-neutralizing autonomous underwater vehicles made in France in the late 1980s.

It seems as if the main task of Lithuanian sailors in combat conditions is to practically manually clear the Baltic channel of mines for other NATO members who will come later to the rescue of Lithuania.

Patrol boat Storm

Such ships began to be built 55 years ago. For example, the Lithuanian boat P33 Skalvis (aka the Norwegian Steil P969) was built in 1967; he worked hard in his native Norwegian Navy and was withdrawn from service in 2000. Shortly after being decommissioned, the Norwegians sold it to a Baltic ally. Note that this is not the oldest Storm type boat in Lithuania.

The boat's displacement is 100 tons, length is 36 meters and width is 6 meters. Two diesel engines with a total power of 6,000 horsepower provide a speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour. Crew - 19 people.

These relatively small boats, part of the Norwegian Navy, were armed with Penguin Mk1 anti-ship missiles. Unlike other anti-ship missiles, the Penguins were equipped with an infrared rather than radar guidance system, flew a maximum of 20 kilometers and rarely hit the target.

The boats were sold to Lithuania without missile weapons. And this is understandable, because Storm’s task is to launch a missile strike on enemy ships and then “escape” to the Norwegian fjords. There are no fjords in the Baltic, so there is no need to anger the enemy again.

Storm left only an old 76mm artillery mount and a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. A hydroacoustic station and anti-submarine weapons were initially absent on such boats.

To understand the big picture: by 2000, all 19 Storm boats were withdrawn from the Norwegian Navy, and seven of them (after dismantling the missile weapons) were transferred to Latvia (3 units), Lithuania (3) and Estonia (1). It’s about the same story with the Danish boats Fluvefisken.

The worn-out weapons “from the master's shoulder” reflect the attitude of Brussels towards the Baltic allies. In turn, the authorities of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia continue to pretend that everything is going according to plan, “military” money is spent judiciously and “Russian aggression”, including from the sea, will be repelled. “Three wise men in one basin set sail in a thunderstorm”...

The small arms and anti-tank weapons of the Lithuanian army actually meet the specified criterion - soldiers have M-14 and M-16 automatic rifles, Colt and Glock pistols, and even the Javelin anti-tank missile system. But the means of transportation of the Lithuanian Armed Forces on the ground are not so good, since most of them are outdated BTR-60, BRDM-2, MT-LB of Soviet production.

Of all the types and branches of the military, the country's naval forces (Navy) are the weakest. Although the republic has strong maritime traditions, the core of the Lithuanian Navy’s combat strength is two Hunt-class minesweepers made in Great Britain and several Norwegian (Storm type) and Danish (Flyvefisken type) patrol boats. Moreover, none of the ships has missile weapons, although a developed complex of guided missile weapons on board is the main trend of naval forces in the 21st century.

Compared to the Russian Baltic Fleet, this mosquito squadron looks extremely small, however, the main problem is not the number of Lithuanian minesweepers and patrol boats (there are only 12 of them), but their quality.

Let's consider the combat capabilities of Lithuanian warships.

British minesweeper Hunt

Ships of this type began to be built in 1980.

The basic minesweeper with a displacement of 615 tons, a length of 60 meters and a width of 10 meters has a fiberglass hull, a two-shaft power plant (two diesel engines with a total power of 3,800 horsepower) and a speed of about 35 kilometers per hour. Crew - 45 people. For a more complete description, numbers and naval terms cannot be avoided.

The main armament of the minesweeper: one Bofors anti-aircraft gun mount of 40 mm caliber (from the Second World War) and two artillery mounts of 20 mm caliber.

Hunt's radio-electronic weapons include a navigation radar station, the Matilda UAR-1 electronic warfare system, a Type 193M mine-hunting hydroacoustic station, and a second hydroacoustic station - the Mill Cross mine hazard warning system.

To search for mines, the minesweeper carries a team of scuba divers and two mine-neutralizing autonomous underwater vehicles made in France in the late 1980s.

It seems as if the main task of Lithuanian sailors in combat conditions is to practically manually clear the Baltic channel of mines for other NATO members who will come later to the rescue of Lithuania.

Patrol boat Storm

Such ships began to be built 55 years ago. For example, the Lithuanian boat P33 Skalvis (aka the Norwegian Steil P969) was built in 1967; he worked hard in his native Norwegian Navy and was withdrawn from service in 2000. Shortly after being decommissioned, the Norwegians sold it to a Baltic ally. Note that this is not the oldest Storm type boat in Lithuania.

The boat's displacement is 100 tons, length is 36 meters and width is 6 meters. Two diesel engines with a total power of 6,000 horsepower provide a speed of up to 60 kilometers per hour. Crew - 19 people.

These relatively small boats, part of the Norwegian Navy, were armed with Penguin Mk1 anti-ship missiles. Unlike other anti-ship missiles, the Penguins were equipped with an infrared rather than radar guidance system, flew a maximum of 20 kilometers and rarely hit the target.

The boats were sold to Lithuania without missile weapons. And this is understandable, because Storm’s task is to launch a missile strike on enemy ships and then “escape” to the Norwegian fjords. There are no fjords in the Baltic, so there is no need to anger the enemy again.

Storm left only an old 76mm artillery mount and a 40mm Bofors anti-aircraft gun. A hydroacoustic station and anti-submarine weapons were initially absent on such boats.

To understand the big picture: by 2000, all 19 Storm boats were withdrawn from the Norwegian Navy, and seven of them (after dismantling the missile weapons) were transferred to Latvia (3 units), Lithuania (3) and Estonia (1). The Danish boats Fluvefisken are about the same story.

The worn-out weapons "from the master's shoulder" reflect the attitude of Brussels towards the Baltic allies. In turn, the authorities of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia continue to pretend that everything is going according to plan, “military” money is being spent judiciously and “Russian aggression”, including from the sea, will be repelled. “Three wise men in one basin set sail in a thunderstorm”...

Editorial opinion may not reflect the views of the author.