It has already been reported that from 2023 to 2027, Latvia will annually invest an additional 200 million euros, and on November 30, 2023, the Ministry of Defense signed a supply contract worth approximately 600 million euros with the German company Diehl Defense for the purchase of the IRIS-T medium-range air defense system.
It is planned that Diehl Defence will start the delivery of medium-range air defense systems in 2026, and Latvia will receive all the necessary equipment for the effective operation of IRIS-T systems, which will ensure the introduction of "layered" air defense system in Latvia.
At the end of 2023, the Ministry of Defense also signed an agreement with the government of the United States of America for the purchase of six HIMARS high-mobility artillery missile systems manufactured by the company Lockheed Martin, which Latvia should receive starting from 2027.
Also Latvia has signed an agreement with the US company Raytheon and the Norwegian company Kongsberg for the purchase of surface-to-surface Naval Strike Missiles produced by them, the delivery of which will start in 2027.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has made it perfectly clear that NATO member states – and particularly those like Latvia that share borders with aggressor states Russia and Belarus – must have strong defenses against those murderous regimes.
