Lithuanian army

Among the 13 soldiers of the National Defence Volunteer Forces who gave oath to serve their country on 21 August, was Dainius Šileika, a third-generation Lithuanian expatriate.

Lithuania is choosing infantry fighting vehicles from two offers, says Chief of Defence Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas.

Outgoing Norwegian fighter jets, which were stationed in Lithuania as part of NATO's Baltic air policing missions, were scrambled on Monday, their last day of service, to intercept two Russian planes flying over the Baltic Sea.

Preparations to receive conscripts is going smoothly and the biggest challenges is now faced by instructors, Lithuanian Minister of National Defence Juozas Olekas said on Tuesday after evaluating preparations to receive conscripts in Klaipėda.

Soldiers of the Lithuanian Army's Grand Duchess Birutė Uhlan Battalion and National Defence Volunteer Forces staged a 1945 battle between Lithuanian partisans and Soviet NKVD forces that originally took place in Kalniškės forest near Lazdijai.

When NATO confirmed last week that it was cutting the Baltic air policing mission in half - eight fighter jets will patrol the skies of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia instead of the current 16 - the reactions were varied.

After hackers broke into the website of the Lithuanian Army's Joint Staff, Lithuanian prosecutors sent out requests for legal assistance to foreign countries.

NATO fighter jets, stationed in Lithuania as part of NATO's Baltic air policing mission, were scrambled three times on Wednesday to identify and accompany Russian planes flying over the Baltic Sea.

The defence ministers of Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine signed an agreement on the establishment of a joint brigade in Lvov on Friday.

NATO fighter jets stationed in the Lithuanian northern city of Šiauliai as part of the Baltic air policing mission were on Tuesday scrambled to identify a Russian reconnaissance plane Il-20 flying in the international space.

Lithuania's port city of Klaipėda is hosting on Monday a farewell ceremony for the Lithuanian troops leaving for the European Union's (EU) anti-piracy operation Atalanta off the coasts of the Eastern African country of Somalia.

Lithuania's Ministry of National Defence will propose raising pay for professional troops.

The new commander of the Lithuania National Defence Volunteer Forces, Lieutenant Colonel Artūras Jasinskas, hopes to attract up to 3,000 troops to the volunteer forces during his five-year term.

Lithuania plans to buy Boxer armoured fighting vehicles from Germany, the spokesman for the Lithuanian chief of defence confirmed to BNS on Thursday, adding that the proposal would be submitted to the State Defence Council.

Lithuanian has sent four army instructors to Ukraine where they will train Ukrainian troops in cooperation with American soldiers.

Lithuania says to have received the NATO supreme commander's pledge to seek that training in Eastern Europe takes place "without major intervals". However, no specific decisions on the so-called Baltic brigade have been made yet.

A company of Belgian troops are scheduled to come to Lithuania for six-week training in September, with a squad of Luxembourgian troops providing back-up, the Lithuanian army told BNS on Monday.

Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lieutenant General Jonas Vytautas Žukas visited the Joint Staff of the Lithuanian Armed Forces on Thursday and pledged to strengthen the country's rapid response forces.

The Saber Strike 2015 exercise held in the Baltic states by NATO has nothing to do with the Alliance's alleged preparations for some annexation, says the chief of the training, US Major General Mark McQueen.

Lithuania and the United States intend to sign an intergovernmental agreement on closer military cooperation.