Lithuania Picks New Assault Rifle For Its Land Forces

Lithuania’s Ministry of Defense has ordered FN SCAR-H PR semi-automatic rifles for the country’s armed forces. The 7.62 mm rifle is produced by Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal.

The contract is worth 9.6 million litas (US $3.9 million), the ministry said in a statement. Deliveries of the weapons are scheduled to begin in 2014.

The FN SCAR-H PR rifles will be supplied to the Lithuanian land forces. The weapons are to be fitted with rifle scopes made by German manufacturer Schmidt & Bender. The amount of rifles ordered was not disclosed by the ministry.

FN Herstal developed the special operations forces combat assault rifle (SCAR) for the U.S. Special Operations Command. The Lithuanian armed forces will receive a precision rifle (PR) variant of the weapon. The rifle is available in a light (L) and heavy (H) version.

Headquartered in Herstal, the manufacturer is owned by the country’s Walloon Region. In addition to its Belgium-based plant, Herstal Group operates production facilities located in the US, Portugal, Japan and Finland. FN Herstal has a workforce of about 2,400, according to data released by the manufacturer. [via]