VILNIUS 's Lithuania's Armed Forces will purchase over 1 million litas (290,000 euros) worth of light arms this year, the Defense Ministry reported.
Jurate Raguckiene, the Defense Ministry's undersecretary in charge of acquisitions, told the Baltic News Service that the weapons would be used by the Special Operations Force and military units participating in international missions.
Although the majority of Lithuanian troops' artillery consists of German- and Swedish-made assault carbines G-3/AK-4, units serving in international operations are armed with American assault carbines M-16 (Iraq, Afghanistan), German Heckler&Koch G-36 (Afghanistan) and modernized Kalashnikov automatic guns (Kosovo).
Officers, petty officers and sergeants carry Colt, Glock 17, Heckler&Koch USP and other pistols.