Lithuania’s government-to-government Foreign Military Sales (FMS) request for procurement of 500 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) has been given the go-ahead by the U.S. State Department, with notification sent to Congress on August 27. Earlier, in February, Lithuania’s Ministry of National Defense submitted a procurement application to the U.S. government concerning a potential acquisition of 200 JLTVs produced by Oshkosh Defense.
.@StateDept authorizes a proposed Foreign Military Sale (FMS) to #Lithuania for up to 500 Joint Light Tactical Vehicles #JLTV+ support worth $170.8 million @StateDeptPM @EURPressOffice @USNATO @USAandEurope #FMSUpdate–https://t.co/lB7yWrBaA9
— Political-Military Affairs, US Dept of State (@StateDeptPM) August 27, 2019
That prospective order has now grown to include 500 such vehicles, which are the U.S. Army’s long-term replacement for its HMMWVs. It also includes M1278A1 Heavy Gun Carriers, plus kits for ballistic armor, explosives protection, shot detection, and GPS. The entire package is estimated at $170.8 million in value.
The purchase will form part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces’ mechanization program, which also involves the procurement of the Boxer 8×8 infantry fighting vehicle (IFV) from the ARTEC consortium of Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall. That purchase, made on August 22, 2016, involves 88 Boxer IFVs that are referred to as Vilkas (Wolves) in Lithuanian service.
JLTV. Image – Oshkosh Corporation/Sebastian Saarloos [CC BY-SA 4.0]
Dan Darling is Forecast International’s director of military and defense markets. In this role, Dan oversees a team of analysts tasked with covering everything from budgeting to weapons systems to defense electronics and military aerospace. Additionally, for over 17 years Dan has, at various times, authored the International Military Markets reports for Europe, Eurasia, the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
Dan's work has been cited in Defense News, Real Clear Defense, Asian Military Review, Al Jazeera, and Financial Express, among others, and he has also contributed commentary to The Diplomat, The National Interest and World Politics Review. He has been quoted in Arabian Business, the Financial Times, Flight International, The New York Times, Bloomberg and National Defense Magazine.
In addition, Dan has made guest appearances on the online radio show Midrats and on The Media Line, as well as The Red Line Podcast, plus media appearances on France 24 and World Is One News (WION).
