Photo credit: Four patrol boats in the Lithuanian Navy will receive radar equipment from Leonardo. (Photo: Lithuanian Navy)
Leonardo is selling the Lithuanian Navy shipboard radars with an air target acquisition and tracking capability.
The Lithuanian MoD stated on 27 October that its Defence Materiel Agency signed a €7.9 million ($9.2 million) contract with the Italian company ‘last week’.
The MoD gave no information on the exact type of radars to be provided but noted that deliveries of the hardware and associated services (testing, installation and training) will be completed by the end of 2023.
Dual-function radars (with integrated IFF antennas) will detect and track surface and airborne targets at a range of up to 100km. The MoD noted: ‘The multifunction sensor was selected in the procurement to save national defence funds: there will no longer be a need to acquire radar antennas for air target surveillance separately.’
The radars will be installed aboard four ex-Royal Danish Navy Flyvefisken-class patrol vessels: LNS Žemaitis (P11), LNS Dzūkas (P12), LNS Aukštaitis (P14), and LNS Sėlis (P15).
‘As we are continuing the efforts of modernising the Lithuanian Armed Forces and supplying it with modern and technologically advanced weaponry, equipment and gear, we are also strengthening maritime capabilities as part of that effort , thus further enhancing deterrence and defence,’ said Lithuanian defence minister Arvydas Anušauskas.
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