The transformation of the Lithuanian armed forces during preparations for NATO membership (1994-2004)

The aim of this article is to research the development of the Lithuanian Armed Forces in the period between 1994 and 2004. During this period the Lithuanian National Defence System and the Lithuanian Armed Forces sought to ensure that full national defence capability was provided and, therefore, had to implement two very complicated tasks: to create and develop the nation’s military forces while at the same time preparing them for Nato membership. The requirements of these two tasks were based on two different military paradigms: the modern and the post-modern. Following the end of the Cold War, the nature of national threats changed the paradigm of western armed forces, as well as that of Nato military doctrine. The changed mission envelope for the military forces of the democratic nations also led to changes in Nato’s structure and organisation, and in the model being used in terms of professional competencies. In order to respond to sub-national threats, Nato members had to have small, professionally-trained and armed, manoeuvrable military forces which could be capable of conducting a wide range of military operations in various parts of the world. The development of the Lithuanian National Defence system was based on the perception of national threats and the mission which was given to the role of national defence, which required a completely different organisation and structure for the national armed forces, along with different staffing tasks. The contradiction inherent in these paradigms has led both to contradictions in the assessment of threats to national security and unsuccessful attempts to reconcile the principles of territorial and collective defence into a unified concept of state defence. This, in turn, has led to constant transformations in the structure of the Lithuanian Armed Forces and its military organisation and military personnel, as well as in the training for that Army of the Republic of Lithuania since 1990 personnel. The Lithuanian Armed Forces were being built from a state of gradula nulla and, therefore, those reforms which were simultaneously launched to integrate them into Nato’s military capabilities were hampered by a lack of competent military personnel and the required levels of experience. Despite the difficulties faced during the ongoing processes, and the contradictions which those processes have generated, the Lithuanian Armed Forces did in fact manage to build up their military capabilities within the space of a decade, ending with the country becoming a member of the North Atlantic Alliance