€50M Leopard Tank Plant Breaks Ground in Lithuania’s Kaunas FEZ

FTZ News: Lithuania has broken ground on a plant in the Kaunas Free Economic Zone to assemble and repair Leopard 2A8 tanks. Martin Chomsky reported it Oct. 2 for Defence Industry Europe. The outlay is about €50 million. The job count is about 80. The operator is Lithuania Defense Services, a German firm that services military equipment. The cabinet cleared the project in March. Special investment terms were added to speed the work.

Defense Minister Robertas Kaunas said both assembly and maintenance would be done in Lithuania. He called the plant a product of business deals and of ties with Germany. “Heavy military equipment serves for decades, so it is important not only to assemble it, but also to maintain it,” he said. The defense ministry said the site should strengthen work with NATO allies.

Economy and Innovation Minister Edvinas Grikšas said the plant would pull Lithuania closer to German defense firms and into European defense programs. “This large project of strategic importance, which is being implemented particularly quickly, is one of the most important foreign investments in the development of Lithuania’s defence industry,” he said. No finish date was given./.