“Next year's defense budget is an armaments budget. It will also be the largest in Latvia's history, reaching 3.45% of the gross domestic product, or 1,559,433,634 euros," said Defense Minister Andris Sprūds.
The ministry's projections show that defense spending in 2026 and 2027 will be even bigger, touching 3.7% of GDP – though as previously reported, part of the reason the percentage figure has grown even faster than expected lies in the fact that GDP growth has been more sluggish than previously expected while defense spending has been carried out as planned.
In 2025, the main priorities will be the introduction of a layered air defense system, the purchase of ammunition and equipment, the purchase of infantry fighting vehicles, the development of indirect fire support capabilities, drones and coastal defense.
According to the White Book, next year, a total of 1,040 national defense servicemen will be admitted to the National Armed Forces for 11 months of service.
Over the next four years, the National Armed Forces will make several "large-scale purchases" , with the Ministry of Defense stipulating that up to 30% of the financing of large capacity projects will be directed to strengthening the domestic defense industry.
45 million euros will be spent next year on "practical work on measures to strengthen the eastern border".
Likewise, construction of the "Sēlija" military range will continue to turn it into "the largest military training ground in the Baltic and Nordic region."
At the same time, Latvia will continue to provide support to Ukraine next year as well, allocating 0.25% of gross domestic product to deliver military equipment to Ukraine, provide training for Ukrainian army soldiers, and the continued development of the international drone coalition which is jointly led by Latvia and the United Kingdom.
According to the ministry's figures, based on NATO's reporting procedure, 26% of expenditure will be on personnel and the same amount will be spent on operations and maintenance. 6% will be spent on infrastructure and 42% on capacity enhancement.
On individual items, 15 million euros will go on RADAR systems and 2.25 million will be spent on the Sēlija military range and reconstruction of a key bridge in Daugavpils. One of the big-ticket items specified is the 200 millon euro annual cost of an air defense system each year during the period 2023-7.
