The purpose of the Lithuanian Armed Forces are to be the principal deterrent against any security threat to the nation. Lithuania's defence system is based on the concept of "total and unconditional defence" mandated by Lithuania's National Security Strategy. The goal of Lithuania's defence policy is to prepare their society for general defence and to integrate Lithuania into Western security and defence structures. The Ministry of National Defence is responsible for combat forces, search and rescue, and intelligence operations.<ref name=WB>Template:Cite webTemplate:Dead link</ref>
In early 2022, Lithuania's defence budget for 2022 was approximately €1.05 billion,Template:SfnTemplate:Ref label but it was increased to €1.5 billion on 17 March 2022.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2024, the budget was raised to €2.3 billion and is projected to reach 3.03% of GDP.<ref name="lt-mil-budget"/>
Similarly to other medieval European states, the army was raised by the nobility during the Late Middle Ages. By the 17th century, it was mostly outclassed by professional forces and a standing army was instituted.
From the 12th century's end and into the 13th century, Lithuania frequently went to war against the western and southwestern Rus' states, Kingdom of Galicia-Volhynia and Duchy of Masovia, and also devastated the lands along the Daugava and elsewhere.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> From the early 1200s, Lithuanians fought against the Swordbrothers, then from 1237 against the Livonian Order, and from the second half of the 13th century's against the State of the Teutonic Order.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Fighting on Lithuania's northern and western frontiers was unceasing, the Lithuanian state expanded southwards and eastwards in the Late Middle Ages.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Lithuanian army was mobile, as it had to fight on many fronts: the State of the Teutonic Order to the west, the Livonian Order to the north, the Golden Horde and its vassal Muscovy to the east, and the Tatar khanates to the south.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> According to 13th-century sources, Lithuanian soldiers rode horses on military expeditions but fought on foot, arranged in three rows during battles.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The best-armed and most experienced fought in the front, while the least experienced and lightly armed were in the last row.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Furthermore, the Lithuanians were skilled at fighting using spears, especially on horseback. The earliest written mention of such tactics, from 1208, says that Lithuanians on horses threw spears at their enemies.<ref>Template:Cite journal
Although the Germans initially had superior weaponry in the 13th century, the Lithuanians won the Battles of Saule (1236), Durbe (1260), Karuse (1270) and the Aizkraukle (1279).<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> However they were less successful against enemy fortifications, especially brick castles.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Eventually the front lines stabilised over time, and the one against the Livonian Order more or less followed the modern Latvia–Lithuania border, while the one against the Teutonic Order was close to the Nemunas.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /><ref name=":0">
Template:Cite web</ref> A castle system fortified the Lithuanian side of the border along the river.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
Over the 14th century, the Teutonic and Livonian orders organised raids into Lithuania.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Lithuanians reciprocated by raiding their respective territories, but the Lithuanian raids were fewer in number.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Lithuanians won the Battle of Medininkai (1320), but lost the Battle of Strėva (1348).<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> More and more, the Teutonic Order destroyed the Lithuanian castle system along the Nemunas and built their own castles near the Lithuanian ones.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> As the German and Livonian orders were constantly reinforced by Christian European countries, it became increasingly difficult to defend Lithuania solely by military means.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> A new generation of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes, Jogaila and Vytautas the Great, used not only military, but also diplomatic and political means, for example Lithuanian baptism in 1387, to protect Lithuania.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
Meanwhile, on the other side of Lithuania, the Golden Horde's army was destroyed in the Battle of Blue Waters (1362–1363).<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In 1368, 1370, and 1372, the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas led the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army on military expeditions against Muscovy.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> However, the Battle of the Vorksla River (1399) was a decisive victory for the Golden Horde.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
Finally, the German Teutonic Order was crushed in the Battle of Grunwald (1410) (known as Battle of Žalgiris in Lithuanian historiography), which was the largest Middle Age battle in Central and Eastern Europe.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In this key battle, the Lithuanian Army was led by Vytautas the Great.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Under him, the Lithuanian Army attacked the lands of the Republics of Pskov, in 1426, and Novgorod, in 1428.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Grand Duchy of Lithuania had internal civil wars in the first half of the 15th century.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Lithuania Army engaged in biological warfare already in 1422, when it catapulted manure made from infected victims into an opposing Bohemian town as part of the Hussite Wars.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In 1435, Sigismund Kęstutaitis' army defeated the opposing army, which included troops of the Livonian Order, led by Švitrigaila in the Battle of Wiłkomierz.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
This century was marked by war of Lithuania against Muscovy and the Crimean Khanate, against whom they won the Battle of Kletsk in 1506.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The strengthening Grand Duchy of Moscow starting in the late 15th century waged unceasing wars over Lithuania's eastern territories.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In 1514, during the fourth war, the Lithuanians triumphed over the numerically larger Muscovite army in the famous Battle of Orsha.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> However, Lithuania lost a part of its eastern lands, most notably the strategically important fortress of Smolensk.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army fought against Muscovy in the Livonian War and won against the Muscovite army, twice its size in the Battle of Ula in 1564.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Three years into the Livonian War, the Treaty of Vilnius.<ref name=":0" /> made Livonia part of Lithuania in 1561 with the Union of Lublin concluded in 1569.<ref name=":0" /> In the late 1570s and early 1580s, the Lithuanian and Polish armies cooperated in Stephen Báthory's incursions into Russia.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
The 17th century was marked by wars against Sweden, the Tsardom of Muscovy and the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Lithuanian army and the Polish army fought against the Ottoman forces notably at both Battles of Khotyn in 1621 and 1673.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> During the war with Sweden from 1600 to 1629, the Lithuanian army defeated Swedish forces three times their number at the Battle of Kircholm in 1605.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> However, this war highlighted the Commonwealth's difficulty recruiting and retaining enough troops, better arming its soldiers with firearms and bettering their use.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Sweden seized a significant part of Livonia as part of Swedish Livonia.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In the first half of the 17th century, Smolensk returned to Lithuania following the Smolensk War.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
The Commonwealth's military weakness in the middle and late 17th century was evidenced in the Deluge.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In 1655, the much-smaller Lithuanian army could not defend the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius against Muscovite attack.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> This was the first time that Vilnius was occupied by a foreign state.<ref name=":0" /> The Swedish and Muscovite armies occupied large parts of Lithuania.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Nevertheless, Lithuania succeeded in holding out and liberated Vilnius, Kaunas, Samogitia and the eastern Voivodeships, except for Smolensk Voivodeship and other parts.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Militarily speaking, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania was weakening however.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
During the Great Northern War the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army no longer defended the country and the Lithuanian magnates' private armies supported different sides.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> Throughout the 18th century, many confederations in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth sought different political goals.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> The Bar Confederation (1768–1772), which happened partly in Lithuania, attempted but failed to stem the increasing influence of Imperial Russia and the First partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth followed.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In the face of the possible loss of independence, military reforms in the Four Years' Sejm (1788–1792) significantly expanded the Lithuanian army, which reached a strength of 17,500.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /><ref name=":0" /> Attempts to make the Commonwealth's armies equal those of neighbouring absolute monarchies were unsuccessful and the unsuccessful War of 1792 resulted in the Second Partition.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
The Polish and Lithuanian armies put up a spirited fight against the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army in the Kościuszko Uprising.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In addition to regular forces, many ad hoc units such as the Vilnian National Guard also fought, as well as many irregular units.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> In the end, the Uprising was defeated and much of the remainder of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army was lost in the Battle of Praga on 4 November 1794.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" /> With the uprising defeated, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland ended with the Third Partition, and their respective armies being disbanded.<ref name="lt-military-medieval" />
Following the restoration of independence, the defence forces were formally reestablished on 25 April 1990 with the creation of the Department of National Defence. After the January Events, the Voluntary National Defence Service was formed of lightly armed volunteers. The Lithuanian Armed Forces were officially restored on 19 November 1992.<ref name="lt-military-hist"/> Western European countries, especially Sweden, helped to arm the initial force by selling or donating excess equipment. Lithuania began the modernisation of its military, becoming the first European country to acquire the US-made FGM-148 Javelin systems in 2001 and the FIM-92 Stinger systems in 2002.<ref name="lt-military-modern">Template:Cite web</ref>
After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania rapidly increased the defence spending, becoming one of the top spenders by GDP in the NATO military alliance.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The following years marked major acquisitions, including M142 HIMARS with the ATACMStactical ballistic missiles, additional NASAMS medium-range air defence systems and artillery ammunition.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, Lithuanian leadership approved the plans to form an army division, based on the three army brigades.<ref name="army-division" /> As part of the plan, the country also decided to acquire Leopard 2 tanks.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In 2023, Germany agreed to deploy a brigade in Lithuania on a permanent basis.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The Bundeswehr's 45th Panzer Brigade, consisting of ~5,000 troops, is scheduled to be deployed by 2027.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> On 28 January 2025, the 1st Division was re-created.
The Lithuanian Armed Forces consist of the Lithuanian Land Force, Lithuanian Air Force, Lithuanian Navy, Lithuanian Special Operations Force and other units:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The core of the Lithuanian Land Forces structure is the Mechanised Infantry Brigade Iron Wolf (MIB "Iron Wolf") consisting of four mechanized infantry battalions and an artillery battalion, supported by the ŽemaitijaMotorized infantry Brigade, which has three battalions and one artillery battalion as well. The third, AukštaitijaLight Infantry Brigade, is a reserve formation with active training. Its command, signal and logistic units are manned by professional soldiers.
The Volunteer Forces form another brigade-size force, consisting of six territorial units. Other auxiliary units include Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion and Juozas Lukša Land Forces Training Center.
Lithuania has been restructuring its armed forces so that one-tenth of the Land Forces could at any given time be deployed for international operations, while half of the Land Forces would be prepared to deploy outside Lithuania's borders. The volunteers have already successfully participated in international operations in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.
In May 2023, the State Defence Council approved the plan to form an army division, based on the three army brigades.<ref name="army-division">Template:Cite web</ref> The 1st Division would have enhanced capabilities, including new tank, reconnaissance, engineering and artillery battalions.<ref name="army-division"/>
The Lithuanian Air Force (LAF) is an integral part of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. The LAF is formed by professional military servicemen and non-military personnel. Units are located at various bases across Lithuania:
The initial formation of the LAF was the 2nd transport squadron with the transfer of 20 An-2 aircraft from civilian to military use, with initial basing at the Barysiai Airport on 27 April 1992. These were joined by four L-39C Albatros aircraft to be used by the 1st fighter (training) squadron. These were in addition to Mil Mi-8 helicopters and a short-range transport aircraft L-410, all of which went through a capital overhaul, upgrade and modernisation in the 2000s.
Following the initial acquisitions, the LAF began its aircraft's modernisation by ordering three C-27J Spartan transporters in 2006. In 2013, three Eurocopter AS365 Dauphin helicopters were acquired from France and, in 2020, Lithuania announced an order or four Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters from the USA. Simultaneously, new medium-range and long-range radars were acquired for the Airspace Surveillance and Control Command.
The Navy consists of the Warship Flotilla, the Sea Coastal Surveillance System, the Naval Logistic Service, Training Center and Maritime Rescue Coordination Center. The flotilla is the core component of the Navy and consists of the Mine Countermeasures Squadron, the Patrol Ships Squadron, and the Harbour Boats Group.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The current Commander in Chief of the Lithuanian Navy is Flotilla Admiral Giedrius Premeneckas.
From 1 August 2022, in order to eliminate the coastal and port defense gap and perform other functions assigned to the marines, the Naval Forces Port and Coastal Defense Service was established and partially formed by merging the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Divers Team and the Naval Forces Logistics Service Security Company into one structure, which includes two infantry (fusilier) companies. In the process of forming the unit's traditions, the soldiers serving in the unit began to be called marine fusiliers (marine infantry), and the service itself is unofficially called the Fusilier Battalion.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In April 2025, the Navy announced that the marine unit would be officially renamed the General Kazimieras Nestoras Sapiega Fusiliers Battalion and would continue the traditions of the 7th Fusiliers Regiment.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Lithuanian Special Operations Forces of Lithuanian Armed Forces have been in operation de facto since 2002 and it were established de jure on 3 April 2008, when amendments of National Defence System organisation and military service law came into force.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
The Special Operations Forces are responsible for special reconnaissance, direct actions, and military support. They have also in charge of other tasks, e.g., protection of VIPs in peacetime. They are formed by the Special Purpose Service, Vytautas the Great Jaeger Battalion and Combat Divers Service. The Special Operations Forces organization is flexible, which makes it easy to form squadrons intended for specific operations and missions. The Special Operations Forces can be called upon inside the territory of Lithuania when law enforcement agencies lack or do not have the necessary capabilities to react to terrorist attacks.<ref name="SF">Template:Cite web</ref>
Soon after the restoration of independence, Lithuania applied for NATO membership in January 1994. Together with another six Central and Eastern European countries, Lithuania was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the 2002 Prague summit and became a member of the Alliance in March 2004. Lithuania entered NATO on full-fledged rights immediately after the procedures of joining the North Atlantic Treaty were completed and acquired rights to participate in the political decision-making process of the Alliance. Integration into the military structures of NATO became a long-term task of the Lithuanian Armed Forces. Mechanised Infantry Brigade "Iron Wolf" was affiliated to the Danish Division based on agreements signed by Denmark and Lithuania in August 2006. Lithuanian Armed Forces started to boost the Brigade's ability to cooperate with the forces of other NATO members.
Joint military educational institutions: Baltic Defence College(BALTDEFCOL) in Tartu, Estonia, Baltic Diving Training Centre in Liepāja, Latvia and Baltic Naval Communications Training Centre in Tallinn, Estonia.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
In January 2011, the Baltic states were invited to join Nordic Defence Cooperation, the defence framework of the Nordic countries.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In November 2012, the three countries agreed to create a joint military staff in 2013.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Future co-operation will include sharing of national infrastructures for training purposes and specialisation of training areas (BALTTRAIN) and collective formation of battalion-sized contingents for use in the NATO rapid-response force.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Lithuanian soldiers have taken part in international operations since 1993. From the summer of 2005 until 2014, Lithuania has been part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the town of Chaghcharan in the province of Ghor. The PRT included personnel from Denmark, Iceland and the US. There have also been special operation forces units in Afghanistan. They were placed in Kandahar province.
Since joining international operations in 1993, Lithuania has lost two soldiers. 1st Lt. Normundas Valteris fell in Bosnia (17 April 1996), Sgt. Arūnas Jarmalavičius in Afghanistan (22 May 2008).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Template:Refbegina.Template:Note labelThe 23,000 is structured like this: 14,500 in the Army, 1,500 in the Air Force, 700 in the Navy, and 6,300 in other units. The other units includes the Logistics Support Command (1,400), Training and Doctrine Command (1,500), the Special Operations Force (unknown) as well as the battalions of HQ and Military Police (2,600).Template:Sfn
b.Template:Note label The paramilitary includes 10,600 of the Riflemen's Union and 3,550 of the State Border Guard Service.Template:Sfn
c.Template:Note labelThe number of 1.05 billion is without including military pensions. When the military pensions are included, the military budget reaches 1.12 billion.Template:Sfn
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