"I am pleased that our manufacturers, realising Ukraine’s needs, have demonstrated their potential, ability to produce [drones] fast and that’s what they did. Today, the first drones are already in our military warehouses," said Kasčiūnas.
The minister notes that first of all it will be sought to deliver drones to Ukraine. One thousand drones will be transferred to Ukraine within four or six weeks.
According to him, Ukraine will in total receive around 5,000 FPV drones from Lithuania valued EUR 5 million. Whereas the Armed Forces of Lithuania will acquire 2,300 for EUR 3 million from local manufacturers.
The minister emphasised that the decision to transfer Lithuanian-made drones to Ukraine benefits Lithuania as it will be possible to assess how they operate in practice in the battlefield.
Lithuania is currently actively training drone operators and instructors. Approximately 80 instructors are planned to be trained for the Lithuanian Armed Forces by the end of 2024.
The Ministry of National Defence earlier stated that all drones to Ukraine and Lithuania would be delivered by the end of the year.
The Defence Materiel Agency in August announced that it would purchase drones for EUR 8 million from five companies for the Lithuanian and Ukrainian Armed Forces. The companies include Dangolakis, RSI Europe, LTMilTech, Granta Autonomy and Unmanned Defense Systems.