In the next six years, the Lithuanian armed forces will grow. The number of professional soldiers, basic training and volunteer soldiers will increase. Although, according to the newspaper „Kauno diena“, the number of army generals and admirals will not change, delfi.lt reported on 21 August.
These changes have been stated in the 2012 Law of Principal Structure of the Lithuanian Armed Forces which has already been forwarded to the Lithuanian government and the Seimas.
The government will soon release its opinion on the suggested law but the final decision will be made by the Seimas in autumn. According to the law, introduced by the Ministry of National Defense (KAM), the principal structure of the armed forces and the number of military units will remain the same in 2013.
There has been a suggestion to change the number of soldiers and statutory civil servants. The State Defense Council has also agreed with this suggestion.
It is clear that in 2013 there will be at least a small rise in the number of soldiers. There is no indication of an increase of financial support to the national defense budget but it looks like more money will be needed.
It is suggested that next year the number of professional, compulsory basic military service and other active reserve soldiers should be between 14,130 and 16,945. This number should continue to rise until 2018.
Translated by Rūta Strolytė
Edited by Rachel Croucher
