On October 26 through 28 Supreme Allied Commander Transformation (SACT) General Philippe Lavigne is on a visit in Lithuania. He met with Chief of Defence of Lithuania Lt Gen Valdemaras Rupšys, MoD Defence Policy Director Vaidotas Urbelis and Director of the Regional Cyber Defence Centre Col Romualdas Petkevičius. The guest also visited the General Jonas Žemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania and the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence.
The main aim of the SACT visit to Lithuania is to learn about the current and prospective challenges in Armed Forces transformation that countries are facing and on the ways the countries plan to employ partnership, cooperation and multilateral projects to tackle them. SACT priorities and activity plans focusing on the new NATO Strategic Concept and its implementation, as well as the NATO Defence Planning Process, in the changing security situation, and development of critical new capabilities from a multi-domain point of view were also presented.
“Superiority in military conflicts is and will be held in the future by the militaries that made timely investments in modern technologies, quicker decision-making mechanisms and who integrate the most recent military concepts. The SACT priorities we were briefed on during the meeting are a clear guidance for further building and development of the Lithuanian Armed Forces,” said Lt Gen V. Rupšys after the meeting.
NATO Supreme Allied Commander Transformation and Lithuania’s Chief of Defence discussed the unique roles of the Allied Command Transformation in the area of innovation and experiment within the Alliance. Due to the war against Ukraine and the threats in the region, the present-day situation pushes to find new methods of warfare with assistance of the latest innovation and military cooperation.
Chief of Defence underscored that the visit had helped Gen Philippe Lavigne to acquire a clearer view of Lithuania’s ability and challenges in strengthening its Armed Forces through cooperation with defence industry. “The Lithuanian Armed Forces has executed a number of logistical operations when delivering military and humanitarian assistance to Ukraine: our warehouses are getting emptier. Funds is not enough to refill it, we need to strengthen the defence industry.”
“Russia is a long-term threat, therefore Allies need to have relevant capabilities to address it. NATO has to learn the lessons of the Russian war in Ukraine and to integrate it in warfare concepts,” noted MoD Defence Policy Director V. Urbelis.
This is the first visit to Lithuania for Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, while regionally, late last year he had a visit to Estonia for an international cybersecurity exercise and met with the Chief of Defence of Estonia. From Lithuania Gen Philippe Lavigne will travel back to the United States.
Photo credits: Alfredas Pliadis
Video credits: Sgt Spct 1st Class Lukas Tamošiūnas: https://we.tl/t-7LQArnxQPp
