The Baltic nation's defense chief explained that the ministry has decided "to create a division and this division will also contain a tank battalion".

"So this is a real decision and it will be focused on Leopard," he added.

The Lithuanian battalion, when fully manned and equipped, will have 55 Leopard tanks.

"We are also in talks and considering buying IRIS-T from Germany. This is a very effective system, which works very well and in a few years it could become part of our air defense system," he said.

In autumn, the Defense Ministry of Latvia, another Baltic country, announced the signing of a contract worth around €600 million for the supply of IRIS-T SLM medium-range air defense missiles.

The missile systems are capable of hitting flying objects at a distance of up to 40 kilometers and at an altitude of up to 20 kilometers and will be delivered by Germany's Diehl Defense starting in 2026.

The announcement of the intention to buy the IRIS-T system comes after Lithuania in December signed a deal to acquire a similar medium-range air defense system, the Norwegian-designed NASAMS.

Speaking at a joint press conference with German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, Lithuania's defense minister said there was a lot of public support for expanding the German presence in Lithuania to a full brigade with its own equipment.

"We are very happy about that. We are happy and the whole of Lithuania is happy. Around 85 percent of our citizens support this cooperation and believe that the Lithuanian brigade is a good cause and they want it to stay here and act as a deterrent," he said.

The German minister, for his part, welcomed the investments and described the German brigade project in Lithuania as unprecedented.

"This is an unprecedented project. This requires some preparation and changes, which we are currently working on intensively. While doing so, we invest a lot of energy and money in building military and civil infrastructure, without which none of this would be possible," he said.

"We want to put the brigade into operation already in 2025, then the troops will follow in '25 and '26 and that is an ambitious timeline," the German defense minister said.

Pistorius was speaking to reporters in Lithuania after visiting the Lielvarde Air Base, where German air force jets are stationed as part of NATO's Baltic Air Policing mission.

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