Lithuania has enlisted new helicopters to protect the border with Belarus and Russia. The new equipment was presented by the Aviation Department of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service at the Paluknis helicopter base near Vilnius on the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of the establishment of the agency.
Lithuanian border guards received three new Airbus H145 D3 multi-purpose helicopters, which were purchased from Airbus Helicopters Deutschland GmbH for 57 million euros. Two of them were paid for by Lithuania at the state expense (46 million euros), another one was financed by the European Union for 11 million euros.
As noted at the presentation, the helicopters are equipped with optical and thermal imaging cameras, real-time video transmission systems and modern communications. They will be used for border surveillance, search and rescue operations, reconnaissance and firefighting, support to ARAS special forces, as well as to assist other agencies and participate in international operations.
One of the helicopters will additionally control the “Kaliningrad transit”: it will be used to strengthen monitoring of trains travelling from Belarus through Lithuania to the Kaliningrad region of Russia and back.
The peculiarity of the two helicopters is special equipment for radiation reconnaissance, in particular, in areas near the Belarusian nuclear power plant.
According to Lithuanian border guards, such equipment will allow monitoring of large areas, as well as round-the-clock rapid response and forecasting of the situation in case of an accident at the Belarusian plant.
“Now we can rescue people who find themselves in the disaster zone. For example, in case of flooding, fire, etc. Especially when it comes to radiation, say, contamination, we will be able to rescue people, take them out of contamination zones. Because with our smaller helicopters we couldn’t do it, we didn’t have special equipment,” Commander of the State Border Guard Service Antanas Montvidos told Radio Liberty.
The helicopters are planned to take part in international operations organised jointly with the European Border and Coast Guard Agency Frontex, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the European network of anti-terrorist units ATLAS.
“We have an emergency situation on the border with Belarus, and we see that it is no better in Poland and Latvia. But the situation is controlled. Why? Because, among other things, we have invested a lot of money in building a wall and buying specialised equipment. And these investments are bearing fruit,” Lithuanian Interior Minister Vladislav Kondratovich told Radio Liberty.
In addition, a vertical take-off unmanned aerial system from the Latvian company EDGE Autonomy, which will now also be used by Lithuanian border guards, was purchased under a European Union programme for 2.42 million euros.
Its main purpose is to monitor the state border in hard-to-reach areas on the border with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region, and to detect illegal migration and smuggling in real time. The system is integrated into Frontex’s technical equipment reserves, and its use in international operations is also planned.