Lithuania plans to add robotic systems to counter-mobility measures

Defence Minister Robertas Kaunas says Lithuania should supplement its counter-mobility engineering equipment parks with robotic systems, LRT reported, citing BNS.

“My personal vision is that we should also use more modern solutions, what we see in Ukraine, namely robotic systems,” Kaunas told BNS on Friday.

He said detection equipment that Lithuania is already developing and integrating should be accompanied by robotic solutions that would reduce risks to soldiers and increase the country’s capabilities against an adversary.

BNS reported that counter-mobility engineering equipment parks at locations designated by the Lithuanian Armed Forces are to be installed by the end of 2028. The previous deadline was April 2025.

The deadline was extended after the number of parks in the counter-mobility measures plan was increased from 27 to 50 and a new counter-mobility line was included.

This week, the government approved plans to establish strips 20 and 150 metres wide along the borders with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region, extending from the patrol track boundary into Lithuanian territory.

By the end of 2028, the plan also calls for reserve obstacles to be installed on sections of roads of national importance and at bridge approaches, as well as for bridges to be prepared for attaching explosives. By the end of 2030, wetlands are to be restored at locations designated by the military.

According to the Defence Ministry’s calculations, the changes would require an additional 50 million euros from the State Defence Fund between 2026 and 2030.

Lithuanian Armed Forces Commander Raimundas Vaikšnoras and his US counterpart Christopher R. Norrie discussed the development of a counter-mobility initiative led by the US Army in Europe and Africa on Thursday.

Kaunas said the United States was familiar with Lithuania’s existing plans and that discussions with partners were under way on what additional measures could be installed.

BNS reported that parks being established near the borders with Russia and Belarus will store dragon’s teeth, assembled hedgehogs, Spanish horses, concrete road barriers, concertina wire, roadblocks and maritime containers.

Conservative-led governments began creating counter-mobility parks in 2023, drawing on lessons from the war in Ukraine that showed such measures can effectively stop, redirect and divide enemy forces. The government adopted a resolution on implementing the measures in July 2024.