Lithuania deploys NASAMS air defence system near Vilnius amid drone threat
Lithuania's armed forces have replaced short-range air defence systems near Vilnius with the medium-range NASAMS system, responding to repeated drone incursions from Belarus.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces have deployed a medium-range NASAMS air defence system on the outskirts of Vilnius, replacing the short-range RBS-70 systems that had been stationed there since the first drone incursions from Belarus last year.
Chief of Defence Raimundas Vaikšnoras told the BNS news agency that the switch had gone ahead as planned and promised, and that the approaches to Vilnius are now protected far more effectively, with a longer range. He did not specify when exactly the system was deployed.
Vaikšnoras acknowledged that critics might argue NASAMS is not the ideal tool for shooting down a cheap drone with an expensive missile, but said that until other capabilities become available, it remains the most flexible option. He compared it to the missiles used by fighter jets carrying out Baltic air policing, which are similarly costly but currently the most effective means available, since they allow a drone to be intercepted and destroyed anywhere over Lithuanian territory. NASAMS, he said, offers speed, range and accuracy.
Regional context
The deployment comes as NATO's eastern member states continue to report drone incursions into their airspace. The most recent such incident in Lithuania occurred in May, while a similar case was recorded in Latvia earlier in August, when a drone was shot down by a NATO fighter jet that had taken off from Šiauliai Air Base in Lithuania.
Lithuania currently operates two NASAMS batteries, with a third expected to be delivered in 2028.
