The government on 10 November revised the procurement proposal made by Norway. Latvia will buy anti-tank weapons, trucks and armored vehicles.

"Purchase of the weapons and vehicles will considerably increase the combat capability of the National Guard, replacing equipment that is several tens of years old," the Minister of Defence Raimonds Vejonis said.

For the needs of the National Guard, Latvia will purchase 800 anti-tank recoilless rifles Carl Gustav, 50 Scania trucks and 50 lightly-armored Mercedes Benz off-road cars for a total of four million euros.

A year ago, Latvian Armed Forces received 134 Scania P93 five and eight-tonne trucks, eight Scania NM154 recovery vehicles and 12 Mercedes-Benz 300GDN medical vehicles as present from Norway.

These vehicles were in long-term storage (reserve) at the Norwegian Armed Forces. They have been manufactured in 1990ies and are in technically good condition.

On July 29, the government adopted a plan to create to create 18 rapid response units in the National Guard by 2018. 14 units will be platoon-level with integrated air-defense, anti-tank, sniper and engineering capabilities. Four units will specialize in defense against weapons of mass destruction, air-defense, mortar fire support and engineering.

As part of the upgrade of the Land Forces Infantry Brigade, Latvia is also buying 123 CVR(T)s or Combat Vehicle Reconnaissance (Tracked) armored vehicles for 48.1 million euros from the UK, with the first vehicles due to be delivered in 2016.

Latvia will also continue the purchases of Spike fourth-generation anti-tank missile systems to equip armored vehicles. Latvia will be buying the Spike anti-tank missile systems along with armored vehicles, which will be equipped with the missiles. The purchase of the armored vehicles is planned as part of an upgrade of the Land Forces Infantry Brigade. The missiles will be used both as the armored vehicles' equipment and by infantry units operating alongside the vehicles.

BNS