Latvia offers Ukraine Stinger MANPADS

Latvia might provide Ukraine with a batch of Stinger MANPADS and will offer training to the Ukrainian military.

Ināra Mūrniece, Minister of Defense of the country, shared this, lsm.lv reports.

The decision will be considered during the next Ramstein format meeting.

The Minister of Defense reported that the list of military assistance is already “in the pocket”, and that Latvia is considering all possibilities to provide Ukraine with exactly what the military needs.

“Actually, the Ukrainian front is our line of defense, so we are now thinking about how to join the large flow of assistance to Ukraine and how to support Ukraine, how to respond to the request of President Volodymyr Zelensky,” she shared.

Considering the help that Latvia has already provided, the Stinger MANPADS could be transferred in the future as well.

“I am meeting with the Ukrainian colleagues, they express the greatest gratitude to Latvia for those Stingers that arrived before the war, it was a very correct decision of the Ministry of Defense, as well as the Former Minister. We will continue with the Stinger, and we will continue even more intensive training of the Ukrainian military in Latvia,” Mūrniece noted.

She also emphasized that UAVs are highly valued by their Ukrainian counterparts; therefore Latvia could also continue their supply.

As previously reported, in February 2022, the Latvian government decided to transfer Stinger MANPADS to Ukraine. This aid was agreed upon with the US.

FIM-92 Stinger is a portable anti-aircraft missile system of the “surface-to-air” class with an infrared homing head developed by the American company General Dynamics. It is designed to defeat low-flying helicopters and enemy aircraft at oncoming and catch-up flight courses in the condition of natural and infrared countermeasures.

Latvia also handed over 6 M109 self-propelled howitzers to Ukraine, namely the M109A5Oe self-propelled howitzers, which were previously in service in Austria and then purchased by the Latvian Armed Forces.

These howitzers underwent modernization during their service with the Austrian military in 2003-2007 and were then sent to storage.

In addition, in the summer of 2022, Latvia raised funds to purchase the Turkish Bayraktar TB2 drone for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The € 900,000 collected would be spent to purchase drones produced by the local company Atlas Aerospace.