Lithuania will pay twice for German howitzers

[wiktorkovalski]

As it has been announced on October 21, 2015 NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) has agreed to provide its complete support to update the PzH2000 self-propelled 155mm howitzers being procured by Lithuania from Germany.
The update support was announced by head of the department of weaponry and control systems Artur Plokšto at a session of the Land Combat Vehicles (LCV) Support Partnership of the NSPA, held in Luxembourg.
Representing Lithuania at the session, Plokšto said the howitzers would be updated, C2 systems installed and full operational capability reached on time.
For the PzH2000 project, NSPA support will include supply, procurement, maintenance, technical/engineering services, technical training, configuration management, transportation, in-country training and on-site support, among others.
As part of the deal with Germany, Lithuania acquires 2,155mm self-propelled howitzers, 16 of which will be used for combat purposes, while two will be used to train firing and driving skills. The remaining three howitzers are slated to be dismantled for spare parts.
All these good news hides the real aim of a pragmatic Lithuanian partner. Germany will get rid of surplus old weapons and get money for it. Lithuania gets howitzers from the German military for more than 15 million euros!
As you understand Lithuania buys old howitzers and of course will need to repair it. “Kind” NSPA promises to provide “its complete support to update howitzers”. But the matter is Lithuania is a NATO member state and also allocates funds to NSPA! It means that Lithuania will pay twice for the second hand weapons. Duped Lithuania, cunning Germany!
http://wiktorkovalski.livejournal.com/22499.html

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Well, in Lithuania's defence, I'm sure that the key decision makers were properly bribed and profited nicely from the transaction. It's not like anyone had the wool pulled over their eyes.

Except, of course, for the Lithuanian voters who expected to have their elected representatives place the interests of the country over their own personal interests. That was somewhat of an unreasonable expectation on their part, however, and they were really just setting themselves up for disappointment when they made it.

 

[dystopian]

The PZH2000 is hardly "old". It's the most advanced mobile artillery system in the world. The upgrade mostly centers around updated networking and fire control solutions; the gun and platform itself are cutting edge even without such upgrades. It's common practice for a country that doesn't have a given military system to buy the older systems at a discount and then have the selling country upgrade them to the latest standard and provide training. It's quite inaccurate to describe it the way you do. Especially given that its much cheaper for Lithuania to update its new acquisitions through the NSPA's LCV support program than it would be for a non-nato member to buy these systems and have them upgraded and their forces trained in their use. I'm not sure what the point of the OP was except to rant against corruption where it doesn't actually seem to exist.

 

[Alcoholic Actuary]

Quick math lesson:

(Paying depreciated cost for used weapon system) + (paying partially subsidized cost for upgrade) <= (full cost for modern weapon system) << (2x cost for modern weapon system)

aa

 

[Tigers!]

If only Germany had left all those unnecessary guns from 1941-1945 in Lithuania they would have plenty of them (old ones I will grant).