– This advanced, mobile system will significantly enhance the Lithuanian Armed Forces' capabilities, ensuring the protection of key sites and infrastructure, writes the country's National Defense Minister Laurynas Kasčiūnas on X.
MSHORAD (Mobile Short-Range Air Defence) is a mobile short-range air defense system that includes command systems, radar, and firing units. Lithuania has extensive experience with the RBS 70 air defense system and has used the ground-based variant since 2004.
According to the press release, Lithuania has chosen Saab's mobile radar Giraffe 1X and to mount the RBS70 NG firing unit on the JLTV from Oshkosh Defense.
In December 2023, Lithuania's Deputy Defense Minister Greta Monika Tučkutė signed a preliminary cooperation agreement with the Swedish FMV in Stockholm for the procurement of short-range air defense systems. Among those present at the signing was Görgen Johansson, head of Saab's business area Dynamics.
A few weeks later, in January 2024, the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration ordered two different types of MSHORAD from Saab, with an order value of approximately 300 million SEK. This order concerned a few systems as part of a demonstrator program, ahead of a future larger acquisition for the army, as previously reported by FSN.