Lithuanian defence forces

[Kekkonen]

With this post I have all three Baltic countries covered. For the threads about the defence forces of Estonia and Latvia, see; http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=59295&highlight=Estonia and http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=59493

As with the two other Baltic countries they have conscription and to that professional soldiers that acts as instructors, and small Special Forces units. They have also sent small units outside their country, to take part in international exercises and operations. It has the largest military of the three Baltic countries (16 000 personnel in uniform with 40 000 reservists) but it´s very difficult to find any pictures on the net, so... here´s what I found:


Slightly larger than West Virginia,
population 3.6 million



As is the case with Latvia, the main equipment in some
batallions have been donated by Sweden. But in other units

Lithuania still uses for example Kalashnikovs.


94 M113´s donated by Germany, they also have a dozen BTR-60PB
and BRDM´s donated by Poland


Lithuanian soldiers from LITPOLBAT, a Lithuanian-Polish batallion












International operations are conducted in Balkans and Iraq. In April 2003, logistics and medical specialists went to Iraq, in June the first LITCON platoon from Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanized Battalion joined in. Six hundred eighty-eight soldiers from MIB IRON WOLF took part in missions. First lieutenant N. Valteris died on 17 April, 1996, in Bosnia.


Lithuanian soldiers in Hilla, Iraq


Pfp training


During ex Baltic Resolve


Capt. Andrzaj Stanek (right) instructs the Lithuanian soldiers of Training
Company 1 on routes to patrol the streets of the Military Operations in Urban
Terrain facility during Exercise Cooperative Osprey '98 on June 6, 1998, at
Marine Corps Base, Camp Lejeune


Lithuanian soldiers from Training Company 1 create a barrier in order to
control a mob of role playing outraged civilians as part of situational training
during Exercise Cooperative Osprey '98 on June 8, 1998, at Marine Corps
Base, Camp Lejeune
High-res: http://www.defenselink.mil/photos/Jun1998/980608-A-3810A-009.jpg


Lithuanian Army helicopter during ex Amber Hope, Lithuania has ten of thse.
High-res (view from the helicopter):http://tietokannat.mil.fi/amberhope/get2data.php3?id=26


A Finnish army soldier instructing a Lithuanian soldier how
to look for mines during Amber Hope 2003
High-res: http://tietokannat.mil.fi/amberhope/get2data.php3?id=8


L-39, Lithuania has six of these, and eleven Antonov-26, An-2 and L-410´s.

[Kekkonen]

Finally found some high-quality photos from the Lithuanian Navy and Air Force So here they are:




Captain Tomas Skurdenis (right) advises a conscript how to tie up a
German-made minesweeper to the dock at the Lithuanien naval base in Klaipeda.


A Russian-made light fregate, of which Lithuania has two. The weapons and
communications systems of the Russian-built frigates are not sufficiently
NATO-compatible, although they can participate in the alliance' s joint exercises
on the Baltic Sea. F11 Zemaitis in the picture.


Patrol craft


L-39 Albatros












Anti-submarine weaponry, RBU 6000

[kinghk]

Looks like one of those 4 former Storm class fast patrol boats the Norwegian Navy sold to Lithuania in the late 90'ies. BTW; Latvia purchased 4 identical vessels.

[Kekkonen]

http://www.vytenis.lt/gallery/vytenis/albums/W_LTN_Exer_PajurioBrizas05/10_Patrol_craft_24_Aug_2005.jpg

Looks like one of those 4 former Storm class fast patrol boats the Norwegian Navy sold to Lithuania in the late 90'ies. BTW; Latvia purchased 4 identical vessels.

Yes it should be one of those. Here is an article about their Navy:

http://www.helsinginsanomat.fi/english/article/1076152461827

[magicpie]

What is the point of having 4 of those useless-looking fighter jets things?

[tenda]

really interesting thread...!!!:)

[SS1983]

Could you post some ground force photos?

[Vytiambergas]

The list of weapons, but it is old information, was updated long time ago.
http://army.lt/index.php?module=Static_Docs&func=view&f=guns/lith.html
http://army.lt/index.php?module=Static_Docs&func=view&f=armor/lith.html
http://army.lt/index.php?module=Static_Docs&func=view&f=navy/liet.html

More pictures.
http://army.lt/index.php?module=Static_Docs&func=view&f=misc/may19/may19.html

[Vytiambergas]

Structure of land forces.
http://www.kam.lt/index.php?ItemId=9640

[Blackbeard]

[Swedish Chef]

Interesting pic's Blackbeard, thanks a lot! woot

[larryzou]

great pic,thinks post.

[corran.pl]

Brothers in arms? :-)

Thanks for posting - I was realy glad to see this pictures.

[daily666]

Brothers in arms? :-)

Thanks for posting - I was realy glad to see this pictures.

yeah, and our (Polish) guy even has an AK-47, propably to match the ammo requirments of the Lithuanian fellow soldiers. Polish soldiers like those usually use 5.56 x 45 NATO Beryl assault rifle. Is Lithuania going to 5.56mm standard?

Great pics...!

[corran.pl]

yeah, and our (Polish) guy even has an AK-47,

It is not AK-47, it is AKMS.


propably to match the ammo requirments of the Lithuanian fellow soldiers. Polish soldiers like those usually use 5.56 x 45 NATO Beryl assault rifle.

Bull****, 7,62mm kbk AKM/AKMS is standart assult rifle of the Polish Army. 5,56mm kbk Beryl is used only by few best units (1 Pułk Komandosów z Lubrańca, 25 Brygada Kawalerii Powietrznej, 6 Brygada Powietrzno-Desantowa, 10 Brygada Kawalerii Pancernej and probably will be adopted by 3 Brigades on KTO "Rosomak") and by all soldiers on internacional missions. All other soldiers from armored, mechanized, engineering, artilery etc units are using AKM/AKMS.


Is Lithuania going to 5.56mm standard?

Great pics...!

They are in NATO now, they are obligated to do this.

[kpsk]

Old thread i know :D
I just wanted to show you guys the picture. It's quite interesting, isn't it?

[lightfire]

Old thread i know :D
I just wanted to show you guys the picture. It's quite interesting, isn't it?





They are from the Honour Guard company, training with the medieval stuff near the presidential palace, and later on Sundays they look like this:









IMHO great stuff and traditions. There are thoughts to recreate dragoons of the XVIII century as well, smth like the poles have.
Are you, yourself from Lithuania?Or did you just make this picture..?

[Cpl.K]

My Coy. was a guest of the Dragunai battalion in Klaipéda in ex Amber Hope 2007...the Lithuanian units involved did their job fine, even though we didn't have much to do with them as our battalion was in a different camp, we only had some HQ people and translators in our camp in the way of Lithuanians. The Dragunai batt. definitely didn't have as nice training facilities (MOUT towns, camps etc.) as we had in Finland though, heard that they were developing that training area as best...We had a Lithuanian cadet with us as translator on almost all training missions.

Definitely going to Klaipéda for next midsummer too if I'm not on an operation, those girls...p-) There were some miniscule bugs there that drove me crazy though, got into my sleeping bag/clothes and ate me up every night, I never got them out of there. Thank God for inhospitable Nordic Finnish climates.

[Ceriy]

Kacanik, Kosovo 26-10-2007

[lightfire]

Kacanik, Kosovo 26-10-2007


Ha:) I believe I know this guy :)small world indeed.

[estonian]

nice thread, nice pictures!

[planeman]

Is that an M16 he's packing? Bloody crappy Western imports!

[Vympel]

Ha:) I believe I know this guy :)small world indeed.

what guy? you got a talent if you can id man from his back

[Vympel]

Is that an M16 he's packing? Bloody crappy Western imports!

there is a reason why in missions Lithuania uses m16. other alternative is ak47(akm), but this crappy weapon useless. another alternative is AK4(primarly weapon of lithuania army)..

[jackehammond]

What is the point of having 4 of those useless-looking fighter jets things?

Dear Member,

The L-39 is one of the most effective advance/basic trainers in the world. It is only a short step from the L-39 to the cockpit of any modern combat jet. The L-39 has a good weapons load on its own. While it can not defend the air space of its nation in a full scale war, the L-39 is perfect for sovereignty patrol missions.

Jack E. Hammond

[lightfire]

there is a reason why in missions Lithuania uses m16. other alternative is ak47(akm), but this crappy weapon useless. another alternative is AK4(primarly weapon of lithuania army)..

The reason, however is slightly different. First, NATO caliber, them M16s were recieved very cheeply, third comfort of western equipment and armament before aquiring G36 for the whole Armed forces. From the next year all those, who go on missions will be equiped with G36 and soon - the whole army.

Then I would not call AKM useless crappy etc :) It's still a loved one by many soldiers, for instance in kosovo even until last year home Home Defence units were using AKMs, because they didn't want to carry AK-4s in mission. AK-4 (main weapon so far) is concidered as crappy in our armed forces, therefore the army will switch soon to G36.


what guy? you got a talent if you can id man from his back

well from this angle his face looks veeery familiar :)

[Vympel]

g36 is superior. heh i saw on 3 mergeliu tiltas(Kaunas) some lithuanian soldiers who had g36 and they practised some sort of climbing down whit the rope. some of them got splinters in the ass when they hitted trees branches.
*btw, i saw some pic of kosovo with Lithuanian soldiers wielding ak's. but i don't saw any colimators and other usefull bullsht on those.
* my friend now serves in air defence, and he says that they get 40 bullets for shooting in the month, so when main weapon will be g36, maybe this number decrease/increase in case of different magazine size.

[lightfire]

You saw airsofters, they ussualy practise there with climbing/ rope techniques ;) In Kosovo, KASP units using AKs did not use any scopes or other things, because they didn't think it was neccessarry, those AKMs are quite old and there's no real use of putting scope (only investment, that is not feasible).

[lightfire]

Some good news at last,

Stinger AA finally in Lithanian Defence forces (Air Defence battalion)





rest from elta:





Our MoD rofl







some good asset to RBS-70

[mohawkALSE]

http://www.defenselink.mil/DODCMSShare/NewsPhoto/1998-06/980608-A-3810A-009.jpg

I'm liking that old school aluminum waffle mag hes got in that AKMS. Damn fine condition too.

[haze99]

That's negative lightfire, those are Redeye's! FIM-43A to be exact. (I would assume these are Ex-West German stock?)
Interesting pedestal set-up, you sure won't see that configuration in the USA.

[marlowe]

Are You sure these are Redeye's?

Air Defence Missile System Stinger introduced in Gaiziunai Training Area
2007-11-05

Air Defence Missile System Stinger was introduced in Gaiziunai Training Area (Rukla, Jonavos distr.) during the exercise of the Motorised Infantry Brigade Gelezinis Vilkas Air Defence Battery on November 5.

The exercise was attended by the National Defence Minister Juozas Olekas, Ambassador in Lithuania of the USA John A. Claud, Deputy USA Ambassador in Lithuania Dr Damian Leader, Commander of the Lithuanian Armed Forces General Major Valdas Tutkus, interim Land Force Commander Colonel Vytautas Zukas, Chief of Staff of the Motorised Infantry Brigade Gelezinis Vilkas Lieutenant Colonel Egidijus Karvelis, project managers from the USA and other guests.

Soldiers of the Air Defence Battery introduced the Air Defence Missile System Stinger and demonstrated operation of the system during the event.

Project of purchasing Air Defence Missile System Stinger was started in November 2002 after the Lithuanian and USA governments had signed treaty on purchasing the systems. The project concerned Antiaircraft Defence Company of the Standing Motorised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf being armed with Stinger systems within the period of three years.

The projects costs about 108 million litas. According to the agreement, shipment of 8 launchers, 2 radars, and 2 tactical control centres was delivered to the Lithuanian Armed Forces in the middle of 2007. USA instructors are conducting training for maintenance personnel and operators from August 1 to November 5, the course will be end by closing exercise on November 5.

Air defence system is designed for defending battle territories and vital objects from air attacks, killing low flying helicopters, transport aircrafts, and fighters.

Ultrasound missiles can reach target in the distance of 8 kilometres.

The improved modification Stinger systems bought by Lithuania include more sophisticated processors of more capacious memory. This type missile systems are designed for the Hammer type vehicles.

Lithuanian Government decided to buy air defence systems from the USA after a market analysis and investigation of military experts on effectiveness of the weapon according to specific criteria were conducted.

“Raytheon” air defence systems Stinger are used in the USA Land, Naval Force and the Marine Corps. Over 20 Western countries have purchased the system.
http://www.kam.lt/index.php/en/142321/

AFAIK the missiles are Raytheon's Stinger RMP/Block I International on Dual Mount Stinger (DMS) launchers.

[lightfire]

http://www.defenselink.mil/DODCMSShare/NewsPhoto/1998-06/980608-A-3810A-009.jpg

I'm liking that old school aluminum waffle mag hes got in that AKMS. Damn fine condition too.

that's an old pic though, we no longer use AKMS except some cases.


That's negative lightfire, those are Redeye's! FIM-43A to be exact. (I would assume these are Ex-West German stock?)
Interesting pedestal set-up, you sure won't see that configuration in the USA.

Redeyes my ass. Those are Stingers, as the article below says. They were bought along with Javelin ATGMs.

[haze99]

Well, it is your ass then! Because those weapons shown are Redeye missiles! They are not Stingers, I don't care what the article says. The LDF may have gotten Stingers, but that is not the weapons shown in the photos!

[lightfire]

Well, it is your ass then! Because those weapons shown are Redeye missiles! They are not Stingers, I don't care what the article says. The LDF may have gotten Stingers, but that is not the weapons shown in the photos!

Yea, so the MoD, american embasy, military personel etc and who all signed contracts before were simply lying during presentation, showing some Redeye missiles, of which no talks whatsoever has ever been attempted. Why would we need old Redeyes?

take a look closer how stinger launcher looks like:



..compare with Redeye:



then take a look again. There are differneces, and no point of evidence, that everyone in our MoD, US embassy or military are lying during public presentation..

[lightfire]

After some concideration and using the situation, that my workload has stoped tempr. I decided to upload some more pics to this messy thread.

I will start from the backbourne of our armed forces..err..land forces - Geležinis Vilkas (Iron Wolf) brigade. This brigade is part of danish division in NATO operations.

Brigade:



It consists of:

Brigade HQ;

King Mindaugas motorized (to be mechanized) batalion;



Grand Duke Mechanized Algirdas Batalion;



Grand Duke Kęstutis motorized batalion;




Grand Duches Birutė motorized batalion:




Artilery Batalion:






Random photos:

































[/IMG]











Maybe I will post some more later..

[boreal]

Lithuania ordered 18 Javelin (ATGM) launchers along with 74 missiles, also suposedly 21 RBS-70 launchers with 210 missiles from Norway with 5 Giraffe 40 radars.

And the Stinger deal, 54 missiles for 8 launchers with two AN/MPQ-64 radars.

[Dark Avenger]

Very interesting photos!
Any more of the Lithuanian M113s?

Look like Danish G3 models to me, manned by Lithuanians.

[lightfire]

Very interesting photos!
Any more of the Lithuanian M113s?
Look like Danish G3 models to me, manned by Lithuanians.

More M113s? they are quite old, ex german. Plans tu replace them partially with wheeled IFVs/APCs, upgrade the rest. Those in your qouted pic are danish indeed, used by lithuanian soldiers.

M113s (about 250 alltoogether in the armed forces) in low low low rez:









And well, today is the day - the day of lithuanian armed forcesp-) 23rd of November!











and besides, perhaps specially, on this day it was announced, that G36 is to become a standart assault riffle of lithuanian armed forces. A contract, worth of 44.6 mln litas (about 12 mln Euros) was signed to buy two modifications of G36 (?..later..) with grenade launchers, spares etc.

[Cygnus]

just asking, are those howitzers M101 105mm? Thanks, oh and how many are there?

[boreal]

Yes M-101 from Denmark, 54 of them and 18 more for spares.

[lightfire]

yes, they are old, but for training and present time they are suitable. And plus they have laser range finders. In future, of cource, self propelled artilery is planed, but there are no clear plans,since priorities are elswhere for now.

[conscript]

congratulations for Lithuanian forces!!! in its day of days and of course with new weapones!:)

[Dark Avenger]

More M113s? they are quite old, ex german. Plans tu replace them partially with wheeled IFVs/APCs, upgrade the rest. Those in your qouted pic are danish indeed, used by lithuanian soldiers.

M113s (about 250 alltoogether in the armed forces) in low low low rez.
Thanks for the pics. I meant M113G3s as deployed in Iraq, but the G1s are OK too.
Happy Armed Forces day, Lietuva!

[Skautas]

Ha:) I believe I know this guy :)small world indeed.

i know him too. he is a little di**head

[Skautas]

My little contribution to this thread.
Lithuanian cavalry in Afghanistan p-)

[Cpl.K]

Heheh, is this Dragunai Bn's Kairiai training area near Klaipéda? The first time I drove past that "camp" during Amber Hope 07 I thought it was a simulated concentration camp or something, it isn't very pretty to look at or well maintained. :) A far cry from the Hesco walls and bunkers we're used to in Finland. I heard that they were only now developing the Kairiai area and the Siauliai training area is better.

To hell with Kairiai training area in June anyway, there were some microscopic bugs there who really didn't agree with me. Let me in to Klaipéda to look at Lithuanian girls and drink Svyturys instead. p-)

[Big Lebowski]

Some old pics from Iraq

[Love Cyprus]

Lithuanian Special Forces:

[Skautas]

Thanks for the pics

[lightfire]

Lithuanian Special Forces:
photos photos photos

thanks for the pics, but those belong to the lithuanian Special Forces thread ;) There is one here on mp.net.

thanks others for the pics, Donkey cavalary is awsome rofl
Er..guys, is there realy a need to blacken the faces of regular forces? Of SOF - yes, but regular forces..there's nothing to hide, realy.

oh, yes, hi rez pic of G-36 after test trials:

[Skautas]

face blacking is for my own PERSEC. you know our people
:fork:
:-*$
:bash:
:backhand:
:slap:

[Skautas]

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=11962603891195894956&sk=1
LT interior ministry forces exercise.

[lightfire]

Thank Soldier:

Lithuanian army`s National Defence Volunteer Forces

Short amateur promo video with various moments of KASP

http://youtube.com/watch/v/ObBifdkGYdM

[lightfire]

some new photos from the journal "Karys"


Targeting helicopter with Stinger:













Military academy training:







In field, shooting exercises:

[Skautas]

nice photos, Lightfire ;)

[Skautas]

Some more photos from the times of LI PRT4.

Hari-Rud crosing.


On patrol.



ANP troops.

[Skautas]

.........................

[lightfire]

Fixed:

From A-stan.

JURGA - Smelio zmones (Sandman's child/ People of sand)

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/hxlWqGK-B1w

english version:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/G-MEN794J-k

[Skautas]

Thanks, Lightfire

[SOF]

Lithuanian spec ops

[SOF]

Some more pix

[lightfire]

bump!


A short, but allas, very small in size video presentation.
Baisically, historical connections and the advert of the Honour Guard Company:

http://www.fivedots.lt/gsk.htm

[lightfire]

Better quality, enjoy:

http://www.kam.lt/EasyAdmin/sys/files/LTkariuomene.avi

[lightfire]

bump.

Archive footage from 1939. The construction of the last modern (at that time) lithuanian aircraft ANBO - VIII and its maiden flight. Very rare.

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/uYW8U4ngp_A

[Dark Avenger]

Gee, thanks mate!! I've been fascinated by the ANBO VIII ever since I found mention of it on the web. I'd say it was in the same class as the Polish PZL P.23 Karas: Rugged, dependable, but rather outmoded by WWII standards.

[La Don]

http://www.delfi.lt/news/daily/lithuania/article.php?id=16819231
http://foto.delfi.lt/album/2171/
Some photos and video from Lithuanian Scouts School, Scouts course.

[lightfire]

Gee, thanks mate!! I've been fascinated by the ANBO VIII ever since I found mention of it on the web. I'd say it was in the same class as the Polish PZL P.23 Karas: Rugged, dependable, but rather outmoded by WWII standards.


It was faster than Karas, could climb faster and higher, take more payload, but yes, all wooden, without detacheble landing gear. probably an easy meat for the WWII fighters, although the max speed was quite good. In one forum it was compared with early Stuka models, and by some parameters it surpassed the german counterpart, however it is unclear whether ANBO could operate as dive bomber. If not the ocupation by the SU, the development could have started with the introduction of 60 aircraft at first.The british were interested in it, but then again - war and ocupation ended the fate of ANBO.

[Dark Avenger]

The entire class of single engined light bomber aircraft was a bit outclassed. They could operate efficiently only in conditions of friendly air superiority and always with fighter escort. Plus they lacked the armor protection and self-sealing fuel tanks necessary to increase survivability to enemy fire.

[lightfire]

That's what i was saying - it was possible for further development and modernization - armouring, adding more powerfull engine etc. But the events of 1940 has left no hope for this.

[Dark Avenger]

If the airframe structure could take all that, it would undoubtedly turn out to be a formidable warplane, in the class of the Su-2 and others.

[lightfire]

Another video.

This this an airshow in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1939, August 14-15th, just before the war! Hitler and Stalin have already shared Europe, and here you can clearly see german, soviet and polish military representatives toogehter, quite amazing:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/8DRxJUrsSVY

allas, no sound :(

[La Don]

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=12098852331207992828&sk=5
Another video from the same scout course.

[lightfire]

Lithuanian army National Defence Volunteer Forces cavalry scouts training

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/NH5Uvfb6zi0

[lightfire]

And some more photos:

Aitvaras patrool in A-stan:



In older days:



Low level L-39



scouts training:



mean woman:



eerrr..repost of the CDS?





Iraq:



minute of rest:

[Ceriy]

Over a hundred Ukrainian, Polish, Lithuanian and US soldiers reached the top of Ljuboten(2,498m) near camp Bondsteel in Kosovo.

[lightfire]

bump,

Lithuanian forces test their Stinger missiles in Denmark.

video:

http://www.kam.lt/stinger.avi

hmm..not all shots have been successfull.

Lithuanian and latvian SF training toogether:

[La Don]

It's that Lithuanian SOF got MITCH helmets. :)

[lightfire]

Bump again

Some pics from exercises Strong Shield 2008:

[lightfire]

It's 90 years for the Lithuanian armed forces!

from This weekend's pics thread.

Some pics and a video from the weekend parades























































video:

http://tv.delfi.lt/video/MJ6dz1n9/

[Mormaeglin]

Ah, Lietuva, truly great country and great nation. I will always have specific sentiment for Lithuania, its folklore and outstanding folk music (Kūlgrinda, Atalyja anyone? ;) )

[Umbro2914]

Great pics guy! just a few questions:

what flag / what unit are they representing?


love these two

[lightfire]

Ah, Lietuva, truly great country and great nation. I will always have specific sentiment for Lithuania, its folklore and outstanding folk music (Kūlgrinda, Atalyja anyone? ;) )

Well, I'm not a great fan of folk music, but I know the vocalist of Kulgrinda ;)


what flag / what unit are they representing?

My gues they are from Šaulių sąjunga (Lithuanian Riflemen's Union). A sort of paramilitary organisation. Those helmets are reminders of the ones, used after WWI.

[lightfire]

Another video from the concert. Quite simple - slides with videos, but some good music

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/W2ssbVVHcnc

[Mormaeglin]

Well, I'm not a great fan of folk music, but I know the vocalist of Kulgrinda ;)


Seriously?! I envy You!! :D:D say hello for him from fan from Prussia!

P.S I have sentiment for Lietuva because mother of my grandmother was Lithuanian, I truly cheerish that fact :D

[Ceriy]

Afghanistan

[Ceriy]

Afghanistan

[TravelingHomeless]

Much respect to what you guys are doing and have sacrificed in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I take it ISAF is the biggest mission your armed forces may have ever been apart of since ww2. It's really impressive how you're a still sorta new member of NATO but punching way above your weight and i'm sure there is a ton of respect for it.

I'm curious though what units do you have now in Afghanistan and will you be increasing more troops as the US and other allied nations send more. Is your SFs still in Kandahar or just near the PRT?

[lightfire]

Much respect to what you guys are doing and have sacrificed in Afghanistan and in Iraq. I take it ISAF is the biggest mission your armed forces may have ever been apart of since ww2. It's really impressive how you're a still sorta new member of NATO but punching way above your weight and i'm sure there is a ton of respect for it.

I'm curious though what units do you have now in Afghanistan and will you be increasing more troops as the US and other allied nations send more. Is your SFs still in Kandahar or just near the PRT?

thanks for your support, late answers.

We will increase PRT mission in Ghor province +20 troops this spring. Not much, but considering it's all pretty much quiet up there, around 160 troops will do the job with the help of other nations (numbering Ghor with 300 troops). Weekly patrols are conducted by regular troops, mostly formed on a battalion basis or Home Guard units.

The SF is a different kind of story. There is one squadron +60 troop of Special Operations Forces which, according to the recommendations will be doubled.

I have no idea how that is possible in the first place, since that would be a very large of our SF committed to the Afghanistan. It's a small community, like other SF, yet, well, it's really small..

Anyway, good luck to them.

The exact location is unknown, however it's considered Kandahar AF. However SF does the job in various provinces, including Ghor, they do not sit in the base camp, so there is no constant location. "Hells angels" travel around the south, spreading havoc to the Taliban p-)

[tommy00]

So, what's the status with a conscription in Lithuanian military,.....i'vve heard statments that you abolish it........
And nice pics. by the way....

[lightfire]

So, what's the status with a conscription in Lithuanian military,.....i'vve heard statments that you abolish it........
And nice pics. by the way....

It is abolished since September 2008, so far enough people get recruited despite flawed advertisement campaign. Proffesional army only, however the new government still keeping in mind two-week training course for all males and optionally for the females. (no plans for shemales or other)

[Ceriy]

We will increase PRT mission in Ghor province +20 troops this spring. Not much, but considering it's all pretty much quiet up there, around 160 troops will do the job with the help of other nations (numbering Ghor with 300 troops). Weekly patrols are conducted by regular troops, mostly formed on a battalion basis or Home Guard units.
Do you have any information on what kind of help Lithuanians asked Ukrainians to provide? Our minister said that it wont be regular troops, but he didn't give any other details.

[lightfire]

Do you have any information on what kind of help Lithuanians asked Ukrainians to provide? Our minister said that it wont be regular troops, but he didn't give any other details.

Ukrainian general responsible for the NATO integration process (or smth like that) told that Ukraine will send troops from airmobile to Afghanistan this year. Not sure if that is ever going to happen, we'll see.

[La Don]

http://www.videogaga.lt/video?id=ofpffjpcgldcecjsmb
someone please embed it normaly :)

[_GDS_]

Bang bang bang, grenade! bum! :DDDDD
that economical crisis... we even save ammo and grenades :D

[La Don]

its just a "dry" training. common thing :)

[lightfire]

Lithuanian L-39,

thanks to mr. didzgalvis for the photos :)









and it flies

[Papenheims]

Nice to see at least one Baltic state doing something about developing their air force. Are Lithuanians going to buy Aero L-159 Alca?

[lightfire]

Nice to see at least one Baltic state doing something about developing their air force. Are Lithuanians going to buy Aero L-159 Alca?

Well, to be honest, this is one of the 4 remaining L-39s ( a "Z") out of original 6. They've all been purchased in last decade, not much a development to tell the truth, at least in the fighter squadron.

with the current crisis and defence cuts, I doubt they are gona but L-159s, even though there was a serious though back few years ago. Simply, not enough funding and different priorities.

We bought 3 new C-27J Spartan transport planes for a nice bunch of money. They do cause some trouble since then, but certainly a needed replacement for An-26s.

The second priority is/was the helicopters for transport, SAR duties, SOF roles etc, but then again, it was planned for the next year and now, with the crisis there is no certainty.

So the current L-39s have been overhauled, modernized in Romania and put to service back again for pilot training. If you know, Baltic states are planing to ensure NATO air police mission until 2018 and only then aquire fighter jets.

Thoughts and conciderations have been made several times (if NATO refuses to conduct air police functions), thus all the fuss about possibility to work closelly with the Czechs and Swedes, concidering L-159 as a traner and Gripen as a fighter.

All Baltic countries have thought about that, but they do not wish to push things up - if NATO conduct air police role, there's no need for the fighters, thus keeping minimal training for the trainers (what L-39s are).

So we keep L-39s just in case and they are made as multirole trainer at it's limits (it can be used as light attack plane, train pilots, cooperation with the ground forces etc), but nothing really special. Not that we are reviving our aircraft industry and designing ANBO-XX ;)

[lightfire]

Ah, ok, Smartasses, some speculation news.

That's ACU, or ACUish new Lithuanian digital camo? p-)

[Mormaeglin]

Very interesting really! but I doubt that this camo pattern will replace current one as it being used just for few years now.

[lightfire]

Very interesting really! but I doubt that this camo pattern will replace current one as it being used just for few years now.

well, it could, since the commander of armed forces has hinted about digital camo a year or so back. The current pattern has been criticized for being too dark and suitable only for few months of the year and in particular enviroment. I have no problem with it, essp when it's a bit worn out, but apparently ACUish style in Afghanistan has impressed some.

[La Don]

For me it looks just like a soj fighter which can wear what he want. Where do you get that pic?

[umutferhat]

http://www.videogaga.lt/video?id=ofpffjpcgldcecjsmb
someone please embed it normaly :)

Nice training Booooom ! Ta Ta Ta Ta Ta.....woot

[lightfire]

For me it looks just like a soj fighter which can wear what he want. Where do you get that pic?

Could be, but doubt it. Besides SOP don't wear ACU anyway. Only when Lithuanian desert camies were new and unreliable "aitvarai" wore DCUs, but that was in 2002-2003.

source btw.

http://www.kam.lt/EasyAdmin/sys/files/46-49.pdf

He's a weapons expert and those are his photos as well.

[Vaiks]

Nice to see at least one Baltic state doing something about developing their air force. Are Lithuanians going to buy Aero L-159 Alca?

Its wrong to say that Lithuania is the only country in Baltics who´s doing something to develop their air force, atleast in Estonia we also had L-39´s and were currently constructing a new military airfield what should be completed in 2010.

[Mormaeglin]

well, it could, since the commander of armed forces has hinted about digital camo a year or so back. The current pattern has been criticized for being too dark and suitable only for few months of the year and in particular enviroment. I have no problem with it, essp when it's a bit worn out, but apparently ACUish style in Afghanistan has impressed some.
Thanks for info! :) I always wondered how effective is current camo, judging from fotos + taking in consideration Yours opinion it seems rather effective. From what I see this new digital camo has bright colours which is good point yet lets wait and see more fotos showing it in action.

[Papenheims]

Its wrong to say that Lithuania is the only country in Baltics who´s doing something to develop their air force, atleast in Estonia we also had L-39´s and were currently constructing a new military airfield what should be completed in 2010.
Good for Estonia then. So it only leaves Latvia which isn't doing anything.

[La Don]

Very good article.
Back on acu in Lithuanian army. I haven't heard anything about that. And that man on picture anyway is somehow connected with SOJ. Look at his vest. In regular forces we get vests with camo pouches and he has one color. Such vests are issued only for SOJ.
Also G36. Such model used only special forces and some last contingents in Iraq. Other forces heads for G36K A4. Which is without any optics.

[lightfire]

Just a badass pic of some chaps in Afghanistan (not SF):

[lightfire]

Pics from preparations for the Afghanistan mission

[lightfire]

And some random pics from weapons familirization training. Lithuanian G-36 version - G-36KA4.

[La Don]

Cool stuff :)
by the way, becauze of the crisis this poor soldiers have to go to the shooting range on foot and carry with them sleepings pads. its not some kind a patrol. press...:|

[flanker7]

Nice looking G36s. Any info on the trigger area controls?
Looks like a modified magazine catch and bolt release

[one-niner]

Oh man - it makes me really happy to see the progress of the Lithuanian armed forces over the past 5 - 8 years. As a reservist I compromised a good part of my university studies to serve as an advisor with LITBAT, LITDET and BALTSQN. It was absolutely worth it back then, but seeing this now makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside again.

Keep up the good work guys, stay safe and keep them photos coming :)

[Papenheims]

And some random pics from weapons familirization training. Lithuanian G-36 version - G-36KA4.

Will G-36KA4 be manufactured locally in Lithuania or will you buy them from H&K in Germany?

[lightfire]

^^^

the first batch of G-36KA4 has been assembled in Lithuania, however the rest part will be/is manufactured in Germany. We already bought them from Germany last year, now the first parties arrive.

It has indeed been modified and a bit similar to the G-36KA2 that has been proposed for Norway. I've trouble here to translate from Lithuanian into English :oops: when talking about modifications. Besides the magazine catch and bolt release there's new buttstock, optics (simplistic but with possibility to attach various sights). It has been tested by firing 15 thousand rounds without any jamming, after 20 thousand rounds it started to jam. It was dropped several times, tossed through water and sand - works perfectly.

[lightfire]

Latest exercises "Baltic Eagle 09" of Baltic battalion

[kalkun]

Latest exercises "Baltic Eagle 09" of Baltic battalion

Actually it was Lithuanian units last preparation exercise for Baltic Eagle 09, which will be held in Latvia in June.

[lightfire]

Well, yes I hope to see more pics when the real exercises kick off from Adazi.

[lightfire]

Video from the exercises:

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=12404987751240244064&sk=3

[SOF]

LITSOF "AITVARAS" movie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K5ieJd-GcKc

[_GDS_]

Last thing i was hoping to see an awesome footage of soo secret our special forces. Well done, thx Lithuanian brother :)

repost(from:http://pajamasmedia.com/blog/on-the-front-lines-in-afghanistan-part-two/2/)
"Hell’s Angels — Lithuanian Style:
U.S. and Afghan soldiers in Zabul Province give high marks to the Lithuanian Special Forces, who like to ride these captured Taliban motorbikes to sneak up on, and chase Taliban fighters. The “LithSof” are on their way to becoming living legends: Both Afghans and Americans report that the Taliban are afraid of the Lithuanians. Stories about them are filled with dangerous escapades and humor.
Americans say that the Lithuanians are sort of a weaponized version of Borat, who think nothing of sauntering around a base in nothing but flip-flops and underwear. “They look like mountain men. They never shave, sometimes don’t bathe, and often roll out the gate wearing nothing but body armor and weapons. Not even a t-shirt,” an American soldier told me. The Lithuanians may be a little bit nuts, but the Americans love to have them around because Lithuanians love to fight, and when you need backup, you can count on them. That contrasts starkly with many of the NATO “partners.” Maybe when your country spends almost a half-century with the Soviet boot on its neck, its first generation of free soldiers know what freedom is worth — and that you sometimes have to fight for it."

just can't be more proud after reading this. :)

[djiti]

saw in the daily thread pics



this m113 is a former german one ?

he look to be fitted of dhiel's tracks and have wegmann smoke lauchners

[lightfire]

Thanks AD, hope none will take that video down. I've seen it today on Partisan Honouring and Solidarity of the Armed Forces and Society Day, but they refused to put in on the MoD website.

Nevertheless, I've made some photos





^^^

Stinger dual mount



^^^

Lithuanian G-36KA4



Really liked it p-)










^^^
theatricalised ambush. A group of fearless insurgents attack convoy with CG and small arms fire.








^^^

soldiers disembark and return fire




^^^
support element arrives. Medvac and logistics which SISU truck nearly overwhelmed "insurgents" position












^^^
More support to confront "insurgents". Special Forces element storms to the flank of the enemy and great them with rapid fire.




^^^

Air Force support arrives, L-39ZA flying low over "insurgents"







more to follow..

[lightfire]

"Damaged" M113 APC being taken away by SISU truck.











Every kid wanted to try SOF Land Rover




or get into 120mm mortar M113




get hands on Stingers...









Someone was coming from above








An-2 made a slow and low pass..







And 2 JAS-39 Gripens made a low and fast fly-by

[calimero2]

this m113 is a former german one ?

he look to be fitted of dhiel's tracks and have wegmann smoke lauchners

Yes. Lithuania got a rather big number of M113's from Germany.

[djiti]

thanks for infos

and thanks all for your pics ;)

[PDT89]

Just a quick question here, i was wondering, how many Mags/Clips does a Lithuanian soldier carry when using the HKG3

cheers!!

[La Don]

From 3 to 6.

[PDT89]

From 3 to 6.

Cheers mate !

I realise know that almost every military that uses the G3 brings about 6 mags, is that all that is needed, or is weight a problem?

[La Don]

For lithunian case, we got AK4 (G3) from Sweden and there was one gun with three mags. I think, because when everubody got 3 more mags it was said that they are taken from storage.
Sorry for my bad english :)

[corran.pl]

You mean 3 mags + one on weapon?

[Vytis]

The same event in Kaunas, Santaka, 2009 05 16

[Vytis]

And the history:

Lithuanian army in 1937-1938

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/wyt6843uI_w
(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyt6843uI_w[/HTML])

[Vytis]

90th anniversary video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/KJgJH3cryNo

[Vytis]

Return of Vilnius to it's rightful owners in 1939,
Part 1:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/_-EfcUsFzzg

[Vytis]

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/G4TlnaXQUE8

[La Don]

[/URL]
SF in Afghanistan from [URL="http://www.kam.lt"]www.kam.lt (http://img268.imageshack.us/my.php?image=sopu.jpg)

[Vytis]

Lithuanian soldiers in WW2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/7A5ZQGpPF3g

[Vytis]

The armed forces of Lithuania:
http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/dge27l1MEe8

[corran.pl]

Nice.

How many M113s and other armored vehicles does Lithuania has?

[lightfire]

About 300 M113s of various modifications. They will serve some more years, since due to the crisis, it's quite difficult to acquire the planed new APC/IFV. The favourite was AMV, but no official talks and nothing to see for several years at least.

Several dozen (used to be around 60) BTRs still in reserve, but not used very much

Yesterday a whole battalion of 100 vehicles (M113s, SISU trucks, Humvies) moved from Rukla to Latvia, Adazi to participate in Baltic batalion exercises. I'll try to post some pics, if I eventualy will have any time for that, since Im'going to Latvia in several days, but for vacation.

[lightfire]

Exercises of three Baltic countries battalion "Baltic Eagle 2009"


The exercise was designed to test the unit's readiness level will be attended by around a thousand soldiers. Nearly half of them come from the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Organisation and conduct of the exercise is a joint responsibility of the Motorised Infantry Brigade „Iron Wolf" of the Lithuanian Land Force and corresponding brigades of the Latvian and Estonian Land Forces.

Evaluation of the exercise will be conducted in compliance with NATO procedures. So after the exercises Baltic Battalion is now officially ready to take it's duty in NATO NRF from 2010.

The opening


















The move













Testing equipment

















The "enemy"







The "good guys"







































































Video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch/v/UL-bqeCF6Z8

Estonian gallery:

http://www.mil.ee/~fotek/gallery/view_album.php?set_albumName=BalticEagle2009

[SOF]

No ready and prepared p-) It is time to do some kilin..... Yeah!!

[Vytis]

The same event:
http://www.15min.lt/gallery/show/Baltijos-bataliono-pratybos-Adaziuose

[lightfire]

Christening the new generation of the L-39ZA pilots p-)

[Atasas]

really good shots from exercise!
Thanks!
BTW...
what weapon soldier on the left is holding?

[Atasas]

Christening the new generation of the L-39ZA pilots p-)











:) gone a bit too fast?:)

[lightfire]

what weapon soldier on the left is holding?

Ksp58/FN MAG.....

[La Don]

Medics of PRT-9 patrolled remote regions of Ghowr

2009-07-08


June 3, military medics of Chaghcharan PRT-9 patrolled remote locations of Ghowr province. Lithuanian, Ukrainian, and Georgian specialists of military medicine examined and provided medical assistance for over 100 people of remote Karbashi Quale village together with their Afghan colleagues.

According to observations of the head of Medical Unit of PRT-9 Maj. Valerija Urbienė, „the villagers mainly had painful backs and joints and their children had cold and rash faces."

Inhabitants of the village were quite surprised to receive the peacekeepers' patrol because, as they said, only a few cars had come around in the last fourteen years. The village called "the cave of lizards" is settled in a location with a particularly abundant population of lizards.

Medics of the Lithuanian-led PRT patrol the province of Ghowr assisting locals on a steady basis according to the ISAF programme. They develop cooperation with medical personnel of the Chaghcharan hospital and examine patients in the hospital and medical section of PRT HQ.

PRT is a joint Lithuanian-led civilian-military mission operating under NATO's ISAF. The main purpose of PRT is helping extend Afghan Central Government authority in the province, ensuring security and creating environment for provincial reconstruction.

Presently the ninth rotation of provincial reconstruction team is providing security in Ghowr, it is mainly formed from the members of Gen. Romualdas Giedraitis Artillery Battalion.

Besides Lithuanian personnel PRT-9 includes members from Denmark, Japan, Croatia, Ukraine, Georgia, and the US.

PIO for PRT-9 1st Lt. Marius Varna

[Ceriy]

Ukrainian officer and Lithuanian soldiers on patrol in Afghanistan

[Atasas]

:roll: wrong image for description?:roll:

[Ceriy]

:roll: wrong image for description?:roll:
Technically most of their patrol in which Ukrainians take part are like that, providing medical services and infrastructure rebuilding plus some other stuff.
Most Ukrainian officers don't take part in patrols where you walk around with your gun.

Here's the story on Mod webpage:
http://www.mil.gov.ua/index.php?lang=ua&part=news&sub=read&id=15741

[lightfire]

M.Yon has visited Gwhor for some time, so he wrote a bunch of articles there:

Lithuanians on the Moon

and
Speaking the Language



Mohammad Jan Kendewalli points to ‘nearby’ villages.

01 July 2009
Chaghcharan, Ghor Province, Afghanistan

Lithuanian Lieutenant Marius Varna walked me around the perimeter of the small camp and we scanned the massive desolation of Afghanistan. The expanses, the dust, and the overwhelming sensation of brown and near-absence of refreshing green, under blue skies and squinting-bright sun. Only a handful of scrubby trees to be seen. One mountain wore a tint of green, as if it had been spray-painted from too far. Varna said it had sprouted after a rain a few weeks ago.
Nearby homes, mostly those of Tajiks, are formed from mud. The dwellings are unvented, and so the cooking fires inside lead to many illnesses. The dwellings could be a month old, or a thousand years. They look as ageless as dust or water. Varna pointed to a new settlement just near the camp and explained that the settlement had cropped up because of this camp and aid money flowing in, saying that kids who previously could not go to school are now in class. Including girls. Locals would later verify his claims.

The history of this land is mysterious and rich. Rudyard Kipling apparently based his book The Man Who Would Be King on the Pennsylvania-born American, Josiah Harlan, who’d come here to conquer and rule.

A BBC article explains:

“Harlan was a Pennsylvania-born adventurer who travelled to Afghanistan in the early 19th century, having sworn never to return to the US after an incident in Calcutta left him stranded.

He headed to Afghanistan with the intention of being made a king. He soon met up with Afghanistan's exiled king, to whom he was contracted to stir up rebellion in Kabul.”

Harlan must have been one crazy American to venture here some 170 years ago, though he was honored with the title “Prince of Ghor,” a title that his descendents now inherit. Kipling’s book was made into a film starring Sean Connery.
At over 2,280 meters above sea level (nearly 7,480 feet), the capital city of Chaghcharan has no factories, few cars or motorbikes, and air that is fresh and dry (and thin). Yet these are the lowlands. For about six months out of the year, the mountains around us could just as well be blanketed under a hundred miles of snow. When the snows arrive in about November, the place is socked in. The nearest paved road is about 380km (236 miles) away at Herat. Tens of thousands of people in the surrounding mountains and in this lowland are cut off from the world. There is nowhere to go but here. None of the Afghans have internet access, but there are cell phones. Even the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT), run by the Lithuanians, becomes isolated other than by virtue of the gravel airstrip. They sometimes go several weeks without a flight. The place might as well be a spaceship, isolated first by the snows, then by the floods from the melting. This is a common story in Afghanistan.




This Swedish flight began in Kabul, flew to Kandahar, then dropped off passengers here in Chaghcharan and flew away. One UN helicopter was parked at the airstrip. Landing at this altitude on an icy gravel strip must be pretty exciting for the pilots. Due to the weather, sometimes no flights arrive for weeks at a time. It would cost about $14m U.S. to build a proper little airport, but this would be the first big step in opening this place to construction.

There is not a single Afghan soldier in Ghor Province, and not one inch of paved road. As mentioned, the nearest paved road is about 380km toward Herat, or about the same to Kabul. Both are rough trips even during good weather. There are tribal frictions, banditry, and treacherous passes. One officer told me that it would cost about a million dollars per kilometer to build a paved road from Kabul through Chaghcharan and on to Herat. The cost would be nearly $800m U.S.


Chaghcharan is so far out that it might hardly seem worthy of our efforts to be here while we are critically short on troops.

And so why did Lt. Varna send me this message?

“Since 2005, this has been the most important mission for the Lithuanian Armed Forces, as Lithuania has been entrusted with an independent command of the province as part of the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF).”

That’s an interesting question; countless easily accessible places are in equal need of humanitarian assistance. More on that later.

The base itself is an international potpourri with soldiers and civilians from Croatia, Denmark, Georgia, Japan, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Ukraine, Romania, the USA, and probably a few more countries. And today there are Italian pilots whose helicopter is having difficulty. From above, this base is just a sesame seed on the body of Afghanistan, but down here it’s a little Starship Enterprise. When I met the Lithuanian base commander, Colonel Alvydas Siuparis, I wanted to call him Captain Kirk, but he’s pretty big so I didn’t push my luck.

Amazingly, despite all the languages spoken on base and off, the people seem to communicate well enough. English is the lingua franca but anything will do. Lt. Varna was speaking Russian on the cell phone, and so I asked why he wasn’t using English or Lithuanian. Lt. Varna was talking with an Afghan, many of whom speak Russian. Often, when two people meet, the first question will be something like, “Which language?” They rattle off which languages they speak in hopes of a match-up. The base for the Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) should more accurately be called “Starship Babylon.” And the term PRT, though accurate in Iraq, should be changed to “PCT” (Provincial COnstruction Team) in Afghanistan. The Provincial REconstruction Teams in Iraq are far different. The term “reconstruction” in Iraq is generally correct, but it’s usually a misnomer in Afghanistan and confuses people at home by implying there was something here to reconstruct.

One certainty: the approximately two hundred people here at the PRT, led by the Lithuanians, are serious about making their imprint and pulling this place another meter forward. Ghor is austere and the PRT is tiny, so nobody is jumping for joy to be here, but it’s clear by the way they keep their gear and go about their business that they are serious about completing the mission, despite that it’s truly not fun.

Monday, some Lithuanians wanted to visit a local television station. And so we set off down the dusty road out of the PRT, by a tiny refuge settlement on the right. The Lithuanian mission was being led by Major Tomaj Madzar, a Croatian soldier, which was good for me because it meant the mission would be in English since he doesn’t speak Lithuanian. Major Madzar said the refugee camp sprouted up after some tribal fighting. It was a sorry shambles of raggedy tents flopping in the warm breeze.

On our left was the Hari River where people were washing a few vans, and maybe a hundred sheep were drinking while the shepherd waited about. The Hari River also passes by the giant “Jam Miniret” in Ghor, which is 65 meters tall. Nobody knows exactly who built it or why, but some think it might be about 800 years old, and there is said to be a Jewish cemetery nearby. Lithuanian archaeologists working in Ghor more recently discovered human artifacts that might be thousands of years old, and also ancient Buddhist sites of unknown age.

After taking a left and crossing a small bridge made of bricks and stone (which I was told had been paid for by USAID), we drove down the main street of Chaghcharan.



Chaghcharan, capital city of Ghor Province, is home to about 15,000 people, mostly Dari-speaking Tajiks, and is roughly the halfway point between Kabul and Herat.

It would not have been surprising to see Fred and Wilma Flintstone roll by. I watched for men wearing tennis shoes. The Taliban and associated enemies often wear tennis shoes that fit. Pretty much everyone else either goes barefoot, wears sandals, or wears shoes that don’t fit. Luckily, here, the Tajiks tend to hate the Taliban, but some do join the fighting elsewhere, and it was possible that some might be home on leave.



Watch the shoes.

We arrived at the television station and were greeted by the “chief,” Mohammad Jan Kendewalli, a Chaghcharan native and Dari speaker. So the meeting would be between an Afghan, a Lithuanian, a Croatian, and me, but luckily we had the Afghan interpreter named Feisal. The soldiers presented a needed computer to Kendewalli’s staff while we began the long meeting.

I do not vouch for the veracity of Kendewalli’s words, other than to say that he warned me, very politely, to be accurate. If his words were accurate, thus is the following account:

Kendewalli said that the Indian government had formed an agreement with the Afghan government to set up a national television broadcasting system throughout the provinces. This station, to serve Ghor Province, was set up one year later in 2007. June 30 will mark its second anniversary. The Indian government donated an antenna, 30kw generator, 100kw transmitter and other associated gear such as cameras. [This television business must cause concern for Pakistan.] The 32 batteries powering the UPS have stopped working and he cannot afford the $600 needed for replacements, but the system still mostly works. Kendewalli seemed perturbed that Indian government did not build the studio he said they promised.

Kendewalli said the transmitter will reach a 30km radius, 25-30 thousand people, and that most families have a small television. Kabul wants him to broadcast for eight hours per night, which he says is impossible because there is fuel for only four hours, and besides that, the electricity in Chaghcharan works only for five hours per night, so how could the people watch eight hours of television?

This is the only channel in Ghor Province, but many languages are spoken here, so I asked about the languages that are used to broadcast. Kendewalli answered that he broadcasts in Turkoman, Pashai, Balochi and some Hindi. But the primary languages in Ghor are Pashto and Dari. Most broadcasting is in Dari, and after that Pashto.

I asked how much broadcasting is generated by his station, and how much is piped in from Kabul. Kendewalli said he transmits 1.5 hours of local coverage, and the other 2.5 comes from Kabul, but Kabul wants all four hours of the transmission time. Kendewalli said his entire budget is only $1,000 per month and he needs $2,600 just for fuel. Fuel was a touchy subject with the chief, and he went on for several minutes.



Croation Major Tomaj Madzar presents an award from the Lithuanian PRT commander to the Afghan television chief while an American makes a photo. Small Lithuanian and Afghan flags were on Kendewalli’s desk. The chief expressed thanks to the PRT, and to the Lithuanians.

Changing the subject, I asked if there were any radio stations, newspapers or other forms of media. Kendewalli said there was no radio (Lt. Varna said there is a private station), but there were about six newspapers. None are dailies, but there are weeklies, bi-weeklies, and monthlies. Kendewalli said most can’t read anyway, and so the way to reach them is through his station. Kendewalli said that the people can never understand democracy unless someone explains democracy. “If they are not educated, they are asleep,” he said.

After maybe an hour of learning about the dramas of being the only television station in Ghor Province, I asked if there was anything specific that he wanted to get out to a broader audience. Kendewalli’s answer was as succinct as it was unambiguous: “I need fuel.”

From here out, the conversation was all over the map. Kendewalli wanted to keep talking about the people. He walked up to a giant poster on the wall, depicting landscape that was literally right outside his front door. He pointed to the snow-covered peaks and pointed out villages that were invisible on the poster, saying those villages and many others are snowed in for about six months each year. He said the people actually stayed up there through the winter, which was incredible to even consider. They must be like Eskimos. They have no schools, no clinics, no nothing. They can’t even come down to Chaghcharan, which also is trapped. He said that the better-off families might have 1-2 cows or 5-10 sheep. And they stay up there, isolated for months at a time.

I asked about the temperatures. The television chief answered that in 2006, the temperature once reached -42ºC (about -44ºF) right here in Chaghcharan, which is in the valley. He saw the looks of disbelief on our faces, and repeated, saying it was true. He said that for a very, very short period, the temperature surely reached -42ºC, and that was the coldest he’d ever seen in the town. From there he spontaneously said that he had noticed the climate change over the past 25-30 years and that it’s getting warmer.

Kendewalli said the primary problems in Ghor Province are the following:

1) Lack of education
2) Poverty
3) Joblessness

He said the men go to Iran and Pakistan for money, or down south to harvest the opium and fight the Coalition. But, I protested, don’t the Tajiks hate the Talibs? Yes, he answered, but they need the money.



Lithuanian soldier outside the television office.

“How much do they earn for fighting?” I asked.

Kendewalli said they get clothes and food, a Kalashnikov and a little money. I asked how much money and he laughed, saying it depends on their job and how they do. If they kill soldiers they earn more. He reiterated that they hate the Taliban but need the money, so they go off to fight and harvest opium and then come home. He said the fight in Helmand has nothing to do with the opium, and that the British came back for uranium. He said that Afghanistan is very rich in resources, and global powers constantly come to fight but they always lie.

Despite his direct words, throughout the talk he seemed genuinely friendly. He was not complaining, as I saw it, but merely answering my questions.

I asked about his education. Kendewalli said he graduated from high school in Chaghacharan, then studied teaching one year in Herat, but quit school because his family was poor. So he returned to Chaghacharan and taught “all subjects.”

He seemed genuinely happy with the help from the PRT, but said the United States is wasting all that money fighting down south, and that construction here was too slow. And Kendewalli warned me several more times to say exactly what he said.

And that was it. The Lithuanians bought a goat and loaded into an SUV, and we headed back to base while I watched for men wearing tennis shoes.


That night, under the bright moon, I put the camera on a sandbag and clicked the shutter.

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/lithuanians-on-the-moon.htm


The rest of the articles:

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/sangow-bar-village.htm

http://www.michaelyon-online.com/searching-for-kuchi-finding-lizards.htm

[Atasas]

Thanks LightFire!
Beautiful work, insight reporting by Michael Yong
I found this article as interesting!
http://www.michaelyon-online.com/sangow-bar-village.htm
Sangow Bar Village (few kids etc images are not loaded)


16 July 2009
Ghor Province, Afghanistan

On a per capita basis, Afghanistan is becoming more dangerous for British and American troops than Iraq ever was. For those who fought in places like Anbar, Basra, Baghdad, Diyala and Nineveh, that’s saying a whole lot. On a per capita basis, there are strong indications that Afghanistan will prove more deadly than Iraq during 2006-2007. One can only imagine how many days and nights Secretary Robert Gates and his advisors must have agonized over troop levels here. On the one hand, we have a fraction of the troops we need, but on the other, increasing troop levels increases hostility toward us. Secretary Gates has made it clear to me that his biggest concern is that we will lose the goodwill of the people and they will turn against us. This happens to be my own biggest concern. The agony is in knowing we need more medicine and the medicine can be highly toxic here. Many people have complained that the new restrictions on air strikes will hurt us, but from my boots, General McChrystal (the new boss here) has fulfilled the intent of his boss, and that the decision, though tough, was wise; if we lose the widespread assent of the Afghan people, it’s all over but for the bleeding.

Today our chances are not good, but there remains a real chance to succeed. Those chances improve dramatically when we take a no-kidding inventory of the situation and refine our goals to align with reality.
While war ravages neighboring narco-provinces, sluggish progress is being made in others. Here in Ghor Province, the Japanese, Lithuanians, and a host of other nations have teamed up in this remote area of Afghanistan.

So one morning the Lithuanians loaded up a patrol and headed out West, in the direction of Herat, and took along four Japanese who are involved in the oversight of spending $2 billion of Japanese money in Afghanistan. Both the Japanese and the Lithuanians exude a sense of purpose; everybody seems to wish they were elsewhere but the mission is important.

We started from the Chaghcharan Provincial “Re”construction Team (PRT); the first step in revealing truth with no mercy about Afghanistan is to call things what they are. There is not a single “Reconstruction” team in Afghanistan. The place was never constructed. Just why the faulty name “reconstruction” was picked is unclear, though it would be fair to guess that political expedience is the culprit. Peoples of developed nations might be more likely to “re” build something they are made to believe they destroyed. The governments can call these PRTs, but henceforth this writer will call them Provincial Construction Teams, or PCTs.

So we loaded up the trucks and headed out West from the PCT. Some readers might recall the last dispatch, wherein we accidentally found Lizard Hole (Karbasha) Village up in the mountains while searching for Kuchi nomads. Today we were heading to Sangow Bar Village. The satellite imagery shows no paved roads because the closest, the “ring road,” is about 175 miles away if you are flying, and much farther if you are on a camel or driving. And so it might seem that we are in the middle of nowhere because by most developed standards we are. If visitors from other galaxies land in this largely Stone-Age place, they can expect to be greeted by small-arms fire and RPGs. Though various star-watching peoples are known to have lived here for many thousands of years (including Buddhists, Jews, and invaders of all sorts), there were not a lot of road builders.

It’s worth a moment of silent reflection to look at the image above and ponder this: though the area appears extremely desolate and remote, there is hardly a fold or wrinkle in the land where you can walk or drive that you will not run across someone. There are areas where few people venture, such as the “Desert of Death” down south, but it seems that as a rule Afghans diffuse into the available volume as if they have a partial pressure. Independence is a key personality trait; if they had a meter of road for every meter of wall they build, the major communities likely all would be connected. Out in the boonies, just when you think you are at the end of the world and nobody could possibly be there, you find a shepherd, or some bearded guy cutting grass with a daas (a long crescent-shaped knife) for his livestock. The people pick over this arid land like ants. Afghan life in the hinterlands is like an eternal camping trip. By their calendar, the year is 1387, but it seems like it could be thousands of years earlier. Young American soldiers who served in Iraq learned about our own country. Often, soldiers would say things like, “Why can’t the Iraqis just get along? They keep themselves down, dragging fights around forever. They fight over stupidness!” Nobody had to fill in the blanks. The reflection was healthy for us.



We rolled into the village of Sangow Bar and were greeted with quiet acceptance. Ghor Province is touted as being poppy-free, and indeed it’s nothing like the rolling hills of Urozgan, the fields of Kandahar, or the mega-producers in Helmand, where I’ve seen miles of poppy growing along the roads and just near bases. This tiny patch, about the size of a walk-in closet, was for personal use.


The village of Sangow Bar was dark. It had no electricity until 2006 when Lithuanians invested about $40,000 to build this micro-hydro generator with the idea of watching the village to see if true improvement was made. Today, Sangow Bar has plenty of electricity and the people have lights and satellite television, yet despite that opportunity, nobody seems to watch Oprah. The old saying, “You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it watch Oprah,” is an unfortunate reality in many parts of Afghanistan.


Please click the image above for a larger view.

Today, Sangow Bar has surplus electricity, so a Japanese asked why the power lines did not cross the river to the dwellings on the other side. The village headman said the people on the other side of the Hari River had refused to help build the micro-hydro, so today they get no juice. The Lithuanians have determined that the project was a success, and the project appeared to be a success to the Japanese and to me.

With this success in mind, the Lithuanians together with Iceland decided to build thirty more hydro-generation stations. Now, if we look at this in context of the broader picture, thirty, three hundred, or even three thousand might seem like an irrelevant number. But it’s not.

During my eight trips to Nepal, and my training with Ghurkas in Borneo who had served in Afghanistan, the Ghurkas have educated me in “Gobar Gas,” and they wonder why Afghans do not use Gobar Gas. Gobar Gas is a simple, cheap, and very ecologically friendly way to collect methane from human and animal waste, and that methane is then used for heating, lighting, and cooking. The system improves sanitation, and the by-products make great fertilizer. And so one Ghurka soldier who had served in Afghanistan insisted that I learn the five virtues of Gobar Gas, and that I be able to name them offhand.

Gobar Gas systems cost only a couple hundred bucks each, and any villager can operate and repair the system. Today I see Gobar Gas all over Nepal, but the older Ghurka soldiers will say that when they were kids, Gobar Gas was practically nonexistent in Nepal. But some far-thinking Westerners came in and installed some systems here and there, and the Nepalese people saw the incredible value, then ran with it. If you go trekking into the villages in Nepal, you might ask villagers to see their Gobar Gas system, and before you know it you’ll have the grand tour because they are quite proud of these excellent little contraptions. And it started with seeds.

And so the Lithuanians and their thirty generators will likely spark more than a few light bulbs. We and our allies cannot construct Afghanistan, but we certainly can nudge this caravan in a better direction.


Americans implored the Japanese to get more serious about Afghanistan, but it was the Lithuanians who actually petitioned the Japanese to come out here to Ghor Province. The match is working well; the Lithuanians provide support, such as security and some investment, but when it comes to capital, the Japanese have the big guns.


Hisako Ishizaki is a First Secretary from the Japanese Embassy. She has worked, studied and traveled around the world, including in Mindanao in the Philippines, where I just left. While Hisako stayed involved in the discussions about the hydro-plant, she wasted no time in sitting down and teaching this child to write a few characters.



Ambassador in UN Affairs, Shigeyuki Hiroki, is the key man when it comes to the investment of the $2 billion Japan has so far pledged. Mr. Hiroki told me that $1.8 billion is already invested, and that the final $200 million is not the end of the road here for Japan. Ambassador Hiroki told me that Japan would be involved for 10, 20 or 30 years. Mr. Hiroki has been one of the most realistic officials I’ve spoken with from any country, though the Lithuanian Commander of the Provincial Construction Team, Colonel Alvydas Siuparis, also is under no illusions. Nor are Secretary Gates or General Petraeus under any illusions and they speak frankly. It would seem that our greatest asset today is the small but strong and growing nucleus of people who understand the magnitude of the problems, but still believe in the endeavor.

That said, the Japanese time frame is more realistic than I hear coming from most American, British, or other officials.


Hisako prepares to cross the sluice, followed by Counselor Hiroyuki Orikasa and First Secretary Jiro Kanzawa, while the Lithuanians, whose names I am not permitted to publish (photos are permitted), stay vigilant. Luckily, the only danger here seems to be the sluice.

The Japanese who have landed out here have enormous collective global experience. Hisako, for instance, speaks Dari fluently after having lived in Iran. She studied in Costa Rica, the Philippines, and has traveled extensively from Tajikistan to the United States. This is true of the entire Japanese team, including Chihiro Imai who has worked and traveled extensively in the most bizarre corners of Africa and South America, visiting about twenty-five countries. Hisako and Chihiro have both been to India, and both women laughed when I said that I go to war to take a vacation from India.

Unfortunately, the deteriorating security situation is causing the Japanese to dramatically cut their staff in Afghanistan. It would seem that U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates agrees that Japan is cutting back right when we need them most, though he has publicly praised the Japanese commitment and urged them to stay involved. It is important that the Japanese stay heavily involved and not decrease but redouble their efforts.



There was a time when some Iraqis began to revel in the attention, and they seemed to lose context that one day the war would end—for us anyway—and that attention would evaporate. One sees the same in Afghanistan. Prosperous nations are trying to psychoanalyze Afghan behavior, and some Afghans revel in this newfound influence, but what many apparently do not understand is that this storm is apt to end as quickly as it began. For this very reason, many Iraqis are filled with nervous anxiety that the Americans are packing out. Influence at local levels in Iraq had diminished precipitously by 2008, and it’s only a matter of time until local mayors and governors in Iraq have no open line to American upper echelons. Business will be conducted at national level. Gone are the days when the mayors of small cities like Tal Afar could get the attention of Generals and even the President of the United States. The world is big, and there are tens of thousands of “Tal Afars” out there. The curtain opened and now it’s closed in most of Iraq.

Interestingly, Iraqi contractors are following the money and popping up in Afghanistan.

Other Afghans are more circumspect, seeing themselves in larger context, realizing that aid can be a fickle blessing and is not an obligation, and that we all know we owe nothing to Afghanistan. We are not paying off a debt and there are other ways for us to protect our self-interests. Many NATO partners, and other partners with big pockets, are here for larger political considerations that have little to do with Afghanistan per se.

Dr. Yaqubi, Director of Ghor Provincial Hospital, has a clearer perspective of the situation, and in fact returned earlier this year from a conference in India. Dr. Yaqubi said his hospital goes six months out of every year with no running water, and when he does have water, it’s unfiltered and unpurified. The cleaning men fetch water from the Hari River during six months of the year, but in the summer they have a reservoir, and get water from the nearby girls’ school, whose own director is upset that the hospital uses their water. (A bright spot in Chaghcharan is that the locals want girls to go to school, and many children are learning English.) During the wet times, the hospital floods, causing the septic system to overflow.

The hospital has ten General Practitioners, three specialists, an anesthetist nurse, two X-Ray machines—one of which works—and an ultrasound machine. They have no female doctors and the male doctors are not allowed to deliver babies other than by Cesarean. During delivery, women are on their own with the midwives, and the male doctors are not permitted to treat “female problems.”

Dr. Yaqubi said he did eight Cesareans in last three months with no complications, and that during the last 90 surgeries had only two deaths, and that complications usually occur because people wait too long to seek treatment. The average post-op stay is four days.

No NGOs offer assistance at the hospital, according to Dr. Yaqubi. There is room for 85 patients, and the Lithuanians donated two tents, adding twelve more beds, but those tents are used for storage. I sat on one of the beds and tried to imagine being a patient here. There is no exaggeration in saying that Americans probably had better medical care during the time of our Civil War. The dusty hospital with its buzzing flies is a living museum of unplanned misery, and I heard the cries of babies wafting through nearby open windows. Bedraggled women sat with pitiful-looking children, waiting on steps into the hospital. Dr. Yaqubi said that if there were two shipping containers for storage, the tents would offer a dozen more beds.

Dr. Yaqubi wants to show people that health care is not free, but he says that the parliament in Kabul thinks it should free to all. The Afghan government can’t even drill a well for this provincial hospital, and all their machines and supplies were probably donated, yet they want “free” healthcare. The beggars of Kabul who refuse to drill a well for the Ghor Provincial Hospital want free health care for all!

I told Dr. Yaqubi that the same argument is raging in America, and I asked the Lithuanian doctor sitting beside me if this is an issue in Lithuania. She confirmed that it is. Dr. Yaqubi said that if treatment is completely free, the hospital would be overwhelmed. With about 750,000 people in Ghor Province, they’ve got 85 dirty beds here, and two smaller clinics elsewhere. Free health care? How about steady electricity to run the X-ray machine?

During winter, most patients cannot journey to the hospital no matter what the case. If a baby is burned during a cooking accident, there is no chance to make it to the cold hospital. If people become too sick they just die and are buried in the icy ground next to the village. Five years ago, Dr. Yaqubi recounted spending five months in the remote district of his birth, administering aid to the people stranded by the snows. He conducted more than 150 surgeries, including ten Cesareans, saying that was the first time the locals ever saw such a thing. Usually the women just die if there are any complications, and he said nine women died that winter. “The woman thinks she is going to die, so she does,” he said.

According to their calendar, the year is 1387, and New Year’s Day this year was 21 March. During the year 1386, the main hospital raised the equivalent of $8,447 in fees from patients, according to Dr. Yaqubi.

Every village has a Mullah. The less primitive Mullahs realize that modern medicine—more or less—can actually work, while other Mullahs, through ignorance or power-wielding, claim monopoly on healing rights, and forbid or discourage people from seeing doctors.

Let’s grab a napkin and do some coffee table math. According to the CIA World Factbook estimate, the population of Afghanistan, as of July 2009, is 33,609,937. Just how the CIA arrives at such a precise number but can’t find in Iraq the WMD that certainly existed at one time, must leave the math-whizzes rolling on the floor. For the sake of humoring the CIA, let’s round to the more napkin-friendly number of 34 million. The CIA World “Guessbook” opines that about 24% of the people are urbanized. This leaves 76% in the sticks. Sticks and mountains. And deserts. So that’s about 26 million people in the boonies. Afghanistan is geographically slightly smaller than Texas, the people are 99% Muslim, and the place is home to some of the most forbidding mountains in the world. Deep Appalachia has nothing on Afghanistan.

There is no estimate for the average size of Afghan villages in the CIA Guessbook. My big guess from seeing villages in various provinces and many districts is the average community probably consists of less than a hundred people. Former USMC officer Tim Lynch has lived here more than four years, and estimates the average village might have sixty people. For the sake of coffee table math, let’s say the villages in micro-communities are home to some 26 million, and have about 100 people each. That would leave 260,000 villages, plus the 8 million people who live in cities and towns.

Those 260,000 villages are spread out in some of the wildest country you can dream of. Now imagine putting one schoolroom and one teacher in every village to teach all kids through all ages. According to the Guessbook, about 28% of the people are “literate”; that’s about 43% of the men and 13% of the women. The hand that rocks the cradle can’t read, and the fact is that the Guessbook has no idea how many people can read because in all the years of war, most villages are never visited.


When Shigeyuki Hiroki, Japanese Ambassador in UN Affairs, walks through villages inspecting projects, it’s doubtful that anyone around understands the gravity of his recommendations on how to spend that $2 billion. Unfortunately, due to the increasing violence, the Japanese are thinning their staff in Afghanistan. The Afghans must realize that they are facing competition for Japanese assistance. Other places, such as Cambodia, are not dangerous for Japanese aid workers.


Lithuania and the U.S. teamed up to build a training center in Chaghcharan, which a local authority then tried to take as his residence.

These children likely will learn to read because they live in Chaghcharan. In fact, I think this girl was in a nearby school I visited. The Lithuanians, Croatians, Ukrainians and others have been helping with schools and supplies. Many of the kids in Chaghcharan are learning to speak English.


The Lithuanian-run Provincial Construction Team (PCT) at Chaghcharan.

There are still legacy mines near the airstrip next to the PCT, and just a few days ago a mine was found and detonated just a meter off of the main road into the camp. Wounds from legacy mines here are relatively uncommon, though. Dr. Yaqubi said that only about one person per month steps on one.

[lightfire]

Ahem, first Lithuanian solid fuel rocket GTI-1, made by Kaunas Technology University, Institute of Defence technologies.

For experimental purposes only..so far. Tested today.








10km range, 5km trajectory height 426m/s speed

To be developed and used piratically.

Yea, looks like Kassaam :roll:

[AurimasLT]

How accurate is this “rocket”? :roll:

[AurimasLT]

Some of Lithuanian AF planes.

[lightfire]

First live fire exercises with Javelins

Poor BTR and BRDM :)

http://www.kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/video_galerija/video_2_kalbomis/videoshow/124.html#view

[one-niner]

First live fire exercises with Javelins

Poor BTR and BRDM :)

http://www.kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/video_galerija/video_2_kalbomis/videoshow/124.html#view
Makes an old LITBAT anti-tank advisor all warm and fuzzy inside :) Thanks.

[AurimasLT]

I would like to see more tactics together with shooting. :roll:

How to stop or slow down moving targets (ex. antitank mines, explosive charges, obstacles) in order to get better aiming conditions?
How to use terrain in order to get frontal cover from enemy fire?

[Dekanas]

Cheers for the scientists. They say they are ready to make military versions of the rocket! :-) Btw can anyone approve the information about the new APC's/IFV's I found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_army_equipment ?

[lightfire]

Cheers for the scientists. They say they are ready to make military versions of the rocket! :-)


Yea, they'd wish, but with no funding or clear idea what kind of missiles do they want to make (Grads most likely or unguided missiles for L-39s), it's only a bunch of talking. We are not Israel.




Btw can anyone approve the information about the new APC's/IFV's I found here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithuanian_army_equipment ?

This information is also a wish-list. There's no money to keep the current status, pay for the current procurements, not to talk about the new ones.

Yes, the plan was from the next year or so to have that number of APCs/IFVs and the most likely contester was Patria AMV. However due to the financial crisis, budget cuts etc this procurement is and will be delayed for unknown number of years. Unless the miracle happens, I would not count on new armour not at least till 2013.

[Dekanas]

Ahh that's bad. Did they decide what versions they need?

[lightfire]

I do not know, but one could judge - the cheapest ones, thus, probably only lightly armed, with 50 cal machine guns.

[Dekanas]

ok thanks for information :)

[Dekanas]

Though I doubt they want more 50 cal APC's. I think something like OTO Melara hitfist 30mm would be more reasonable.

[lightfire]

"Reasonable" comes with a price that is not satisfactory, thus I would not count on it too much.

[Dekanas]

What about the new battalion? Any purchases planned for it in the near future?

[AurimasLT]

Hope this is not repost.

[AurimasLT]

...

[AurimasLT]

...

[AurimasLT]

...

[AurimasLT]

This is Russian made documentary film about Lithuanian partisans (Forest Brothers). IMHO rather interesting and objective. Sorry but soundtrack is only in Russian. I think it will be interesting for Russian members of mp forum.


http://cineplexx.ru/9/914-lesnye-bratja.html

[lightfire]

There's no need to post one pic per post, essp if two of them are reposts ;)

[lightfire]

Few pics from Today:









SOF weapons

[Ceriy]

Afghanistan.

[AurimasLT]

Soldier with G36 is Ukrainian.

[zapatero]

Is that a Gemtech stubby surpressor on that HK?

[AurimasLT]

Lithuanian AF received it’s 3rd C-27J “Spartan”.

[/URL]

(http://img25.imageshack.us/i/sp1w.jpg/)



[URL="http://img23.imageshack.us/i/sp3y.jpg/"] (http://img340.imageshack.us/i/sp4.jpg/)

[one-niner]

Niiice! It's such a beautiful little transporter.

[lightfire]

A video of Spartan.


shame on music though..


http://tv.delfi.lt/video/YlMSvdp7/

[lightfire]

Another video.

Scouts for PRT live fire exercises:

http://www.kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/video_galerija/video_2_kalbomis/videoshow/154.html#view

[_GDS_]

A video of Spartan.


shame on music though..


http://tv.delfi.lt/video/YlMSvdp7/

rofl Stargate soundtrack :DDDDDDD

Delfi.lt Strooooooooong!!!!!!!!! :D

here's another vid of the same, "Spartan The Third" aircraft:
http://www.kam.lt/lt/naujienos_874/video_galerija/video_2_kalbomis/videoshow/152.html#view

[SOF]

[QUOTE=lightfire;

.....again infaimous mister Kuckailis...

[La Don]

Why infaimous?

[AurimasLT]

Several pictures of Lithuanian army NBC and engineer units.

[/URL]

[URL="http://img509.imageshack.us/i/eng1.jpg/"] (http://img203.imageshack.us/i/nbc.jpg/)

[AurimasLT]

Photos from recent Lithuanian- Dutch training of logistic units. Our new SISU trucks in action. :)

[/URL]

(http://img530.imageshack.us/i/lk3.jpg/)

[URL="http://img504.imageshack.us/i/lk4.jpg/"]

[AurimasLT]

Pictures from exercises “Quick response” (part of preparation for duty in EU battle group).

[/URL]

(http://img80.imageshack.us/i/lk1.jpg/)



(http://img222.imageshack.us/i/lk6.jpg/)

[URL="http://img682.imageshack.us/i/lk8.jpg/"]

[one-niner]

omg - I thought you'd gotten rid of those chevys years ago. Hopefully they're no longer used in roles where offroad driving is required?

[Timmy!]

Pictures from exercises “Quick response” (part of preparation for duty in EU battle group).





As I know, Lithuania has only one woodland cammo pattern (and one for desert), right? But this soldier's uniform looks way more brighter than the rest of uniforms on these photos. How come?

[kalkun]

As I know, Lithuania has only one woodland cammo pattern (and one for desert), right? But this soldier's uniform looks way more brighter than the rest of uniforms on these photos. How come?

Because it's worn out? Uniform camo does fade.

[Timmy!]

That was my main assumption also. :)
Just wanted to make it more clear for myself- they are no "variations" to the main camo (as, for example, Germans have with their Flecktarns of different year of production)?

[AurimasLT]

Our army use 2 standard patterns of camouflage (forest and desert types). One in the picture probably is faded. Of course if you will look very precise at cloth of different makers probably there will be some small differences.

IMHO our uniforms are too dark. :roll:

[AurimasLT]

omg - I thought you'd gotten rid of those chevys years ago. Hopefully they're no longer used in roles where offroad driving is required?
My guess that it is signal or staff platoon vehicles.

[lightfire]

Our army use 2 standard patterns of camouflage (forest and desert types). One in the picture probably is faded. Of course if you will look very precise at cloth of different makers probably there will be some small differences.

IMHO our uniforms are too dark. :roll:

From next year a new pattern should be introduced, a unified pattern, that should very interesting - a local ACU pattern.

AD,

Please, feel free to share about Kuckailis

[kalkun]

From next year a new pattern should be introduced, a unified pattern, that should very interesting - a local ACU pattern.

Anything more about this? Lithuanian sources are fine for me.
Gotta say though that I am quite skeptical about these universal patterns.

[lightfire]

Anything more about this? Lithuanian sources are fine for me.
Gotta say though that I am quite skeptical about these universal patterns.

http://www.lrytas.lt/-12561174081254859898-kariuomen%C4%97s-vadas-a-pocius-lietuvos-kari%C5%B3-uniformos-ateityje-bus-vienos-spalvos.htm


Kariuomenės vadas A.Pocius: „Lietuvos karių uniformos ateityje bus vienos spalvos[ - Commander of the army - uniforms of Lithuanian soldiers will be of the same colour

The thing is, that technically it should be same pattern, perhaps only digitalized and of different colour.

[AurimasLT]

Additional photos from preparation for duty in EU battle group exercise.

[/URL]

[URL="http://img300.imageshack.us/i/litk1.jpg/"] (http://img300.imageshack.us/i/litk2.jpg/)

[lightfire]

Reece exercises:

[AurimasLT]

Reece exercises:


Is this “enemy imitation team”? Note strange uniforms and AKM.

[AurimasLT]

EUCOM commander general C. F. Ham visited Lithuania.

[/URL]

(http://img14.imageshack.us/i/usl5.jpg/)



(http://img14.imageshack.us/i/usl1.jpg/)

[URL="http://img442.imageshack.us/i/usl4.jpg/"]

[AurimasLT]

Used equipment of Lithuanian contingent is being brought back home from Afghanistan.

[/URL]

(http://img694.imageshack.us/i/air1w.jpg/)



(http://img190.imageshack.us/i/air3j.jpg/)

[URL="http://img85.imageshack.us/i/air5.jpg/"]

[AurimasLT]

Some random pictures.

[/URL]

(http://img141.imageshack.us/i/lt2e.jpg/)



(http://img689.imageshack.us/i/lt4d.jpg/)

[URL="http://img197.imageshack.us/i/lt6b.jpg/"]

[SOF]

Happy new year everyone ! p-) Let it be the year to remember ! Whoa !

[La Don]

Baltic Eagle 2009





Afghanistan, last winter

[AurimasLT]

SISU trucks in Lithuanian army.

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=12622545731260009409&sk=12

[one-niner]

SISU trucks in Lithuanian army.

http://www.lrytas.lt/videonews/?id=12622545731260009409&sk=12
Looks really cool. Thanks.

[AurimasLT]

Shooting with 12 cm mortars.

[/URL]

(http://img94.imageshack.us/i/mort1.jpg/)



(http://img96.imageshack.us/i/mor3.jpg/)

6 cm mortar.



[URL="http://img690.imageshack.us/i/mor6.jpg/"] (http://img301.imageshack.us/i/mor5.jpg/)

[La Don]

Nobody calls mortar's calibre in cm. Its always in mm ;)

[AurimasLT]

Nobody calls mortar's calibre in cm. Its always in mm ;)

Wrong, Germans and Swedes call mortar caliber in centimeters. Our army has both Swedish and German mortars, so you should study weaponry better. ;-)

[La Don]

In our amy all mortars are called in mm. Even those bulgarian made ;)

[AurimasLT]

Actually our army often lacks standards in many areas. This millimeter system was introduced by ex soviet officers. Personally me have heard using both measuring systems. I do not have Lithuanian translation of Swedish mortar field manual at home but it’s quite possible that cm system is used in it (even in Lithuanian translation). If you have Lithuanian translation of “Tampella” field manual it’s also possible that cm is used there. Tips: check information before writing categorical statements.

[AurimasLT]

Shooting training in Afghanistan.

[/URL]

(http://img695.imageshack.us/i/afg1.jpg/)



(http://img694.imageshack.us/i/afg3.jpg/)



(http://img509.imageshack.us/i/afg5.jpg/)



(http://img148.imageshack.us/i/afg7.jpg/)



[URL="http://img300.imageshack.us/i/afg9.jpg/"] (http://img205.imageshack.us/i/afg10.jpg/)

[La Don]

I just said as it is. All guys who works with mortars, at least in my btln, always says mortars calibre in mm. And dont take it so deep. I say what i hear and know. :)

[AurimasLT]

I just said as it is. All guys who works with mortars, at least in my btln, always says mortars calibre in mm. And dont take it so deep. I say what i hear and know. :)

OK, no problems. :)

[La Don]

[one-niner]

Looks like Danish camo. We used to have those for our MANPADS units, which are now disbanded. Could it be one of those?

[SOF]

[QUOTE=AurimasLT;4668287]Shooting training in Afghanistan.



















That is not a training p-)

[SOF]

Actually our army often lacks standards in many areas. This millimeter system was introduced by ex soviet officers. Personally me have heard using both measuring systems. I do not have Lithuanian translation of Swedish mortar field manual at home but it’s quite possible that cm system is used in it (even in Lithuanian translation). If you have Lithuanian translation of “Tampella” field manual it’s also possible that cm is used there. Tips: check information before writing categorical statements.


There is no caliber measurment in cm in LITH armed forces. Never herad about it in the NATO standarts. Sweeds have many strange things in their armed forces for example no NCOs, incredeable platoon and COY structures, etc.... :)

[La Don]

Sweden is not in NATO. :)


Looks like Danish camo. We used to have those for our MANPADS units, which are now disbanded. Could it be one of those?
In 2007 danish MLOT team replaced their Toyota's with those. And we see them with Lithuanian flag. Maybe PRT rebuyed them.

[SOF]

[QUOTE=La Don;4670609]Sweden is not in NATO. :)

I know that :cantbeli:

[La Don]

Evaluative field tactical exercise "Rapid response" (2009-10-23/30). King Mindaugas Motorized Infantry Batallion photo

30 December Lithuanian-led Ghor Provincial Reconstruction Team in the tenth rotation of Lithuanian soldiers (PRT-10) deminers destroyed about 800 kg of unexploded munitions. PRT-10 Demining Squad photo.
Source: kam.lt. Google translations.

[Frank the soldier]

Hello , Can anyone help me ???
I search a Patch , Baltic Eagle 2009 ( NRF- 14 )

Link or High-res Pictures, Thanks

[lightfire]

^^^

Sorry, can't help on that..

Pics from winter exercises:

[AurimasLT]

Coolest part of winter training...

[/URL]

[URL=http://img682.imageshack.us/i/ekete2.jpg/] (http://img18.imageshack.us/i/ekete.jpg/)

[lightfire]

Another, one of the 3 Flyvefisken class/Standard Flex 300 class patrool boats received by Lithuanian Navy:

[tommy00]

Another, one of the 3 Flyvefisken class/Standard Flex 300 class patrool boats received by Lithuanian Navy:

AFAIK all "Flyvefisken" class ships in Danish navy were having "Sea Giraffe"-radar on top of their masts.....
Sad to see, that they were mounted off......
Otherwise, cool boats....

[lightfire]

from JTAC exercises in Czech republic, Lithuanian L-39 crew



Cpt A.Braciska, one of several Lithuanian JTACs calling in air strikes in Afghanistan, Helmand province.



Sniper training in regular forces

[AurimasLT]

Winter training.

[/URL]

[URL="http://img15.imageshack.us/i/ziem2.jpg/"] (http://img215.imageshack.us/i/ziem1.jpg/)

[LAZAS]

Coolest part of winter training...


Some more footage from winter training: