RIGA. July 25 (Interfax-AVN/BNS) - Baltic states are planning to jointly procure armored personnel vehicles, helicopters and radars, Latvian Defense Minister Atis Slakteris has told BNS.
He said that there is political readiness for such procurements and that some of the projects are under way.
He said the radar suppliers have been chosen. "It is cheaper to buy jointly. I won't go into the details, because this is classified information and companies are competing for orders. We should guarantee high quality control over the airspace as we are NATO members," he said.
Slakteris described the standard of defense cooperation between Baltic states as good.
So far joint military procurements have been restricted to ammunition, he added.
He said that it is disadvantageous for Latvia to participate in the purchase of fighter aircraft for monitoring the airspace of Baltic states.
"There is a possibility, of course, that in the future Baltic states will be controlling their airspace themselves but presently this is apparently uneconomical," the minister said.
NATO has too many fighters, "pilots need practice and there is no better place for practice than actual missions along the NATO border," he said.
Baltic states cover the expenses on this, which they find cheaper than assuming control over the airspace. "They [other NATO countries] are not doing it out of charity, we cover the expenses on the upkeep of the pilots in Lithuania," he said.
Baltic states have several joint projects in defense: BALTNET air space monitoring system, BALTRON minesweeping naval squadron, BALTCCIS command and control system and BALTDEFCOL Baltic defense college.