TIRANA – Defense Minister Niko Peleshi said Saturday Albania has bought anti-tank Javelin missiles to strengthen its defenses.
Peleshi said Albania signed a contract with US Lockheed Martin, without specifying the number of missiles, how much they cost or when they would be delivered.
The Minister said buying the missiles was part of the army’s modernization efforts.”It is in the framework of the modernization of the Armed Forces, the increase of our capacities, the fulfillment of the objectives that Albania has in relation to NATO. The Javelin anti-tank missile system is being manufactured by the American company, the world’s largest military industry Lockheed Martin and we have placed our order there as part of our journey to strengthen the Armed Forces, modernize, increase security and territorial defense of our country,” said Peleshi as quoted by Top Channel TV.
Further he said there are no concrete threats to get panicked. “We are a NATO country, we have resolved the issue of national security, we are protected, because we are protected by Article 5 of the NATO treaty, according to which NATO space is inviolable, but of course we will continue to follow NATO’s pace of strengthening as part of a defensive alliance,” said the minister.
In addition to this system, according to the Minister of Defense, there will be other purchases or donations from Albania’s strategic partner, the US or other NATO partners. He said that strengthening NATO means discouraging other often less positive powers and our rivals, discouraging them from trying to turn the politics of past centuries, sharing maps or the law enforced by the largest upon the smallest.
Peleshi also said NATO is not a threat to any country, including Russia. Tirana supports the alliance’s “open door” policy welcoming Finland and Sweden as new members, which Peleshi said were “two independent sovereign countries with high political, legal and also military standards.”
Earlier this week, Lockheed Martin said the U.S. Army had awarded two production contracts for Javelin missiles and associated equipment and services with a total value of $309 million. These contracts include more than 1300 Javelin missiles funded from the recent Ukraine Supplemental Appropriations Act and orders for several international customers including Norway, Albania, Latvia and Thailand, according to AP.
Javelin is a missile system that has been in use since 1989 and is expected to be used at least until 2050, according to the company. It costs about 250,000 dollars per piece but is able to blow up a tank that costs many times more. /Argumentum.al
