Lithuania triples funding offer for anti-balloon system to €3 million

July 9, Pozirk. Lithuania has increased the amount it is willing to pay for the development of an anti-balloon system to €3 million from an initial offer of €1 million, according to the economy ministry.

The country’s State Border Guard Service (SBGS) said a system capable of detecting, tracking and bringing down weather balloons is needed to counter air security threats posed by balloons used to smuggle cigarettes from Belarus.

SBGS Commander Antanas Montvydas said that although incursions by weather balloons have become less frequent recently, “it is necessary to continue investing in advanced technological solutions that could help neutralize threats posed by airborne smuggling more effectively.”

In the first stage, three selected bidders will each receive €233,000 to design a prototype and demonstrate it under real-world conditions. In the second stage, one contractor will be awarded €2.3 million to manufacture a trial batch and prove the system’s effectiveness under real-world conditions.

The deadline for submitting bids is September 11.

Tensions between Belarus and Lithuania over cigarette smuggling by air began rising last October, prompting Lithuanian authorities to close the border and suspend operations at Vilnius International Airport, which is located near the Belarusian border, because of incursions by smugglers’ balloons.

Vilnius declared an “extreme situation,” a low-level emergency, on December 9 in response to what it described as “a hybrid attack from Belarus.”

Politics Security

Politics, Security

Lithuania lodges protest with Belarus over recent airspace incursions

June 15, Pozirk. The Lithuanian foreign ministry has summoned a Belarusian diplomat today to express strong protest over airspace incursions from Belarus in May and June, its press office reports. Cigarette-smuggling weather balloons and other unmanned aerial vehicles crossed into …

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