Lithuania Made a BOLD MOVE

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Become a Member Today and Unlock EXCLUSIVE Videos: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKfak8fBm_Lhy4eX9UKxEpA/join  NATO fighter jets destroyed an unidentified drone over central Lithuania on September 15, 2026, amid rising tensions between Vilnius and Moscow. Following Medvedev's threats and Lithuania's move to remove constitutional limits on hosting foreign military capabilities, the Baltic state is accelerating its total defense doctrine. With defense spending reaching 5.38% of GDP, a permanent German brigade deployment, and extensive counter-mobility works along the Baltic Defense Line, discover how Lithuania is preparing for high-intensity warfare.  ⏱️ CHAPTERS: 00:00 - NATO Intercepts Russian Drone Over Central Lithuania 01:18 - Pratkūnai Drone Downed: Baltic Air Policing Scramble 05:16 - Medvedev Threats & Lithuania Moves to Host Foreign WMDs 08:17 - Lithuanian Counter-Mobility: Trenches, Wetlands, & 20m Obstacle Strips 10:23 - The Baltic Defense Line: Network Infrastructure and Counter-Mobility Parks 11:20 - Strong Griffin 2026 Drills & Civilian Readiness Curriculum 12:57 - Over 5% GDP Defense Allocation & German Brigade Reinforcements 15:40 - Ukrainian Battle-Tested Drone Integration & Eastern Flank Deterrence  Support us directly as we bring you independent, up-to-date reporting on military news and global conflicts by clicking here: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMilitaryShow/join  #militarystrategy #militarydevelopments #militaryanalysis #themilitaryshow  SOURCES: https://pastebin.com/u0QrtBAQ

Transcript

00:01Something dark is happening between Russia and Lithuania.

00:05Yet another aerial incursion by a Russian drone may not seem like major news at first,

00:10but this was no ordinary incursion.

00:12NATO responded with immense force this time, and it sent a message to Putin.

00:18Russia keeps on pushing, and threats are being made, and the hybrid war is intensifying.

00:23Lithuania is paying attention to all of it.

00:26As Putin's Kremlin cronies plot and scheme, Lithuania is quietly preparing for a full-scale war against Russia.

00:34On September 15, news broke that a drone had not only entered Lithuanian airspace,

00:39but that it had also been shot down by NATO fighter pilots in a response that was clearly designed

00:45to let Putin know that drone incursions are being taken more seriously than ever before.

00:50Lithuania's president, Gitanas Nazeida, took to X in the aftermath of the drone attack, declaring,

00:55A drone that just entered the Lithuanian airspace was destroyed by NATO fighter jets.

01:00I thank Allied personnel for their swift response.

01:03With Russia intensifying its aggression against Ukraine, such readiness is vital for our region.

01:08Together with our NATO allies, Lithuania will defend its airspace.

01:12We'll explain more in a moment.

01:13First, if real, human-made military reporting matters to you, subscribe and tell us what you think below.

01:19You can also become a member for exclusive content while directly supporting the work behind this chat.

01:25What has been confirmed so far is that an unidentified drone entered Lithuanian airspace at some point during the night,

01:32leading to alerts being sent to drones, warning residents to find a safe place and wait for the all-clear.

01:39Drone alerts also sounded in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius, along with the surrounding regions.

01:44As all of this was happening, NATO fighter jets were being scrambled.

01:48Though Lithuania hasn't confirmed which jets, the most likely candidates are the four Eurofighter Typhoons that are stationed in Lithuania,

01:55along with their Italian pilots.

01:57Those jets are currently on the Shulai rotation of the Baltic air policing mission,

02:02making them the jets that are assigned the task of defending Lithuania's airspace.

02:06And that's exactly what they did.

02:08At 1.19 local time on September 15th, the unidentified drone came crashing to the ground somewhere near the village

02:15of Pratkutnai in Kaunas County.

02:17The drone had flown far enough to reach the center of Lithuania before it was destroyed.

02:22The dark attack didn't do any serious damage and no casualties have been reported.

02:26And though it hasn't yet been established who sent the drone or what its origins may be,

02:31there is only one suspect.

02:33Russia.

02:33Again.

02:35Now, Zayda certainly believes that.

02:37Even without confirmation, he has readily implied that Russia is the likely culprit.

02:41And his ex-post mentioned the nation by name and linked the most recent attack to Russia's hybrid warfare efforts.

02:47Russia, of course, hasn't commented on the incident.

02:50It rarely does, unless it wants to unleash a scathing statement suggesting that it wasn't behind a drone incursion,

02:56regardless of what the evidence shows.

02:58That evidence is being inspected as we speak, as the debris from the drone has been gathered

03:02and is being examined to determine where it came from and whether it was launched at Lithuania purposefully

03:07or was sent off course.

03:09The outcome of that investigation seems almost inevitable at this point.

03:14After all, it's not as though Russia is a stranger to threatening Lithuania from the air.

03:18Balloons and drones are almost becoming a fixture in Lithuanian airspace.

03:21Back in November 2025, the Institute for the Study of War reported that Lithuanian authorities had identified

03:27more than 60 balloons that flew from Belarus into Lithuanian airspace.

03:32Those balloons forced Vilnius International Airport to suspend operations, affecting 22 flights and more than 3,000 passengers.

03:40This balloon attack was part of a wider 2025 campaign that Resilience Media reports ultimately ended up with Russia having

03:47sent 600 balloons and 200 drones,

03:50all from Belarus, into Lithuanian airspace.

03:53Many of the devices were found to have been carrying contraband.

03:56However, collectively, these aerial devices were also responsible for the diversion of over 300 flights from Vilnius International Airport, indicating

04:05their true purpose.

04:05Russia wants to disrupt.

04:08It's using Belarus as the launching ground for aerial incursions that cause the disruption it covers.

04:13Adding to the likelihood that it was Russia behind this latest incursion is that the drone flying into Lithuania fits

04:19a pattern of Russian hybrid attacks that have been happening all over Europe.

04:23Over the past couple of months, we've seen an increasing pattern of drone incursions as well as NATO responses.

04:28Back in August, a Russian drone was shot down over Romania by a Spanish F-18 Hornet, which was quickly

04:35followed a few days later by a Romanian F-16 destroying a maritime drone with its cannons.

04:40Returning to the Baltic region, Estonia has been dealing with as many aerial incursions as Lithuania.

04:45In September, a drone crossed into the country's territory, causing an alert and a fighter jet scram.

04:51Extend the scope over the last couple of years, and NATO has scrambled fighter jets around 700 times, all due

04:57to Russian activity near or over the borders of member nations, MiG Flug reports.

05:02On the surface, that makes what we've just seen look like more of the same.

05:05Distressing, of course.

05:06Russian drones crossing into NATO airspace will always be a concern.

05:10However, given Russia's behavior over the last couple of years, these types of incursions are almost starting to feel strangely

05:17normal.

05:17Only there's a more disturbing element to the Lithuanian incident that suggests Russia is cooking up something much darker than

05:24this seems on the surface.

05:25We take you to September 11th, just four days before the drone incident over Lithuania.

05:31The deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, chose that day to issue a warning.

05:36Again, standard Russian fare.

05:38Only this time, the warning was levelled at the very country that has just been targeted by one of Russia's

05:43drones.

05:44Speaking about the possible implementation of NATO's Article 5, perhaps in the event of Russia trying something dangerous in the

05:51Baltic region, Medvedev said,

05:52If it is implemented, it will be a global catastrophe, a planetary one.

05:57They are not fools, but Lithuania will disappear from the world map.

06:01Medvedev went on to claim that Lithuania is attempting to open the door for nuclear weapons to be placed on

06:06its territory.

06:07And that if Russia were forced to react to that, no one will step in for them.

06:12Lithuania has indeed made recent moves to lift a constitutional ban on nuclear weapons deployment.

06:17That news broke on September 10th, as Lithuania's Parliamentary Committee on Legal Affairs voted 7-2 in favour of removing

06:25restrictions against hosting foreign military bases that are home to weapons of mass destruction.

06:30But Russia hardly has a leg to stand on.

06:33It has hosted nukes in Belarus for several years, having first announced its intentions to do so in March 2023.

06:40But Putin wants a situation where what's good for the goose isn't good for the gander, and he's throwing a

06:45tantrum via one of his mouthpieces now after Lithuania made a move to defend itself.

06:49First, that tantrum amounted to a threat, but now another drone has entered Lithuanian airspace, forcing NATO jets to scramble.

06:57As we said, something dark is brewing.

07:00Tensions have existed between Russia and Lithuania for years, and they intensified following Putin's invasion of Ukraine as Lithuania threw

07:07its support behind Ukraine.

07:08Both nations know exactly what it's like to exist under Russian occupation, having previously been part of the Soviet Union

07:15that Putin seems so desperate to restore.

07:17Russia is making moves that suggest it's looking for a fight with Lithuania.

07:22The message he's getting back is simple. Lithuania isn't scared.

07:26That's precisely what Lithuania's Defense Minister Robert Kaunas said as the Russian threats grew louder.

07:32Speaking to CBS Evening News, Kaunas declared,

07:35We don't fear you. We are in our home, and we will protect our home.

07:39And protect is just what Lithuania intends to do.

07:42As Russia continues to push NATO's buttons and test the limits of its hybrid warfare,

07:47Lithuania has been preparing for a war that seems more likely now than it ever has before.

07:52Russia may threaten. Lithuania will be ready.

07:55In a moment we'll dig deeper into those preparations, but first you're watching the military show.

07:59If you haven't subscribed to the channel yet, now's the perfect time to hit that button and ring the notification

08:05bell.

08:07Lithuania clearly sees something coming, even though Kaunas has claimed as recently as August

08:12that Russia has yet to make a specific decision to attack any of the Baltic states.

08:17What hasn't been decided right now can always be decided in the future,

08:20and Lithuania wants to be prepared for any eventuality.

08:24One of the ways that it's preparing is by digging.

08:26In an August 13 report, which landed just six days after Kaunas claimed that Russia is unlikely to attack soon,

08:33Militani revealed that Lithuania has developed a new plan.

08:36It's set to start digging trenches and restoring the wetlands that run along the borders that it shares with Russia

08:41and Belarus.

08:42Both are measures designed to slow down a Russian ground assault by forcing troops to navigate massive ditches that can

08:47stop tanks in their tracks,

08:49and bogging them down in marshy land that is a nightmare to traverse.

08:53The Deputy Minister of National Defence, Tomas Mikkelkevicius, helped to announce the move, stating,

08:58Military counter-mobility is an important part of Lithuania's defence preparedness.

09:03We seek to make the best use of the peculiarities of the Lithuanian territory and engineering measures so that,

09:09if necessary, we can complicate the enemy's movement and create more favourable conditions for our troops to operate.

09:15Plans for the new defence includes the creation of a 20 metre wide strip of obstacles,

09:20including the previously mentioned ditches, that will span the borders with Belarus and the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad.

09:27In some strategically important areas, the width of this strip will expand to 150 metres.

09:32The goal right now is to have all of these measures in place by the end of 2028.

09:37The restoration of the wetlands will take a little longer, 2030 is the reported target.

09:42Lithuania also plans to build new storage facilities for barrier equipment which it will place in 50 different locations.

09:47The logic here is simple. If Russia is slowed on the ground, that gives Lithuania more time to organise other

09:54defences,

09:55as well as give NATO a bigger window for a collective response.

09:58What we are seeing in these latest moves is also part of a wider border defence policy

10:03that has seen Lithuania build other barriers in preparation for a potential Russian advance.

10:08Lithuania has been developing counter-mobility parks since 2023, and they are covered in the latest proposals.

10:14Those parks were meant to be up and running by April 2025, but have been delayed.

10:19Not due to slow work, rather, Lithuania has expanded the number at once from 27 to the 50 we mentioned,

10:25and has dedicated an extra $57.7 million to the task.

10:29And long before all of this, Lithuania completed the construction of a barbed wire-strewn border fence along its border

10:35with Belarus.

10:35Finished in August 2022, that fence was installed in sections and now spans 502km of the 679km border the two

10:45nations share.

10:46Another 100km of that border run along rivers and lakes, providing a natural water barrier.

10:51All of this is also part of a much wider project named the Baltic Defence Line, a collaborative effort between

10:57the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.

11:00This line will include a massive network of trenches, observation posts, bunkers, surveillance systems and anti-tank obstacles.

11:08All to make it as hard as possible for Russian or Belarusian forces to cross the border.

11:12The Baltic defence line is still a work in progress, but Lithuania's latest move shows that it's committed to wider

11:18Baltic defence, as well as protecting itself from Russia.

11:22So Lithuania is becoming increasingly ready to slow Russia down on the ground.

11:26But it's doing much more than that.

11:28The Lithuanian military is also being readied for a fight, and a clear example came on September 14th,

11:34when it launched a large military exercise covering 12 municipalities.

11:38That exercise began on September 14th and runs through September 18th, with the majority being focused on the southern half

11:45of Lithuania.

11:47Troops will use drones, weapons, boats and both military and civilian transports during the exercise.

11:52And it's not the only exercise happening in Lithuania.

11:55As this exercise kicks off, another, named Strong Griffin, 2026, is happening along the border that Lithuania shares with Belarus.

12:03This is the larger of the two exercises, running from September 2nd to September 20th.

12:08And it involves 2,500 soldiers and 500 pieces of equipment.

12:13Lithuania isn't the only nation involved in this second exercise.

12:17France, Portugal, the US, Poland, Moldova, the Netherlands and even Ukraine are also taking part,

12:23with the main focus being the use of drones.

12:25Perhaps we're seeing Lithuania and its NATO allies trying to actively learn from Ukraine's drone expertise.

12:31Another example of Ukraine's drone diplomacy comes into play.

12:35Along with preparing its soldiers for war, Lithuania is also trying to ready its civilians.

12:40In a September 8th report, CBS News said that its reporters have visited high schools in Vilnius,

12:46where lessons on military-style preparedness are being added to the curriculum, alongside maths and science.

12:52Training is also being offered to civilian adults, including weapons training that could aid those adults in defending themselves

12:58if they're forced to face off with Russian soldiers.

13:01Of course, nobody is expecting Lithuania's civilians to operate anywhere near as effectively as the country's armed forces.

13:07But a little training can go a long way if your country is plunged into an emergency.

13:12Returning to the Lithuanian military, more is being done to make that military as effective as it can possibly be.

13:18Increased spending is one example. Lithuania isn't a large nation.

13:22As CBS News points out, it has a population of about 3 million people, making it roughly the size of

13:27the greater Minneapolis.

13:29That means we're also not going to see Lithuania spending hundreds of billions of dollars on its military.

13:34Still, the country is spending more heavily as a proportion of its gross domestic product, or GDP, than almost all

13:40of its NATO allies.

13:41On August 31st, the country's ruling political parties voted to maintain defense spending at more than 5% of GDP

13:48in 2027.

13:50The country's 2026 budget was 5.38% of GDP in 2026.

13:55Right now, it's unclear if that will be the exact figure for 2027.

13:59As Prime Minister Mindaugas Sienkiewicz explains,

14:02Our defense and our defense funding will allow us to remain in the 5% club.

14:06What the exact number will be and what will follow the decimal point cannot be answered at this time, Sienkiewicz

14:11declared.

14:12Still, anything 5% or over puts Lithuania in relatively rarefied air, showcasing how serious it is about tackling the

14:19growing Russian threat.

14:20This spending amounts to about $2.3 billion per year.

14:24Granted, that's not a huge amount of money, especially when Russia has spent over 50 times that much in the

14:29first half of 2026 alone.

14:31But for a country the size of Lithuania, it has a huge commitment to improving its defense as the nation

14:36also works alongside its NATO allies.

14:39And speaking of those allies, they're not standing around idly and leaving Lithuania to handle things on its own.

14:44We saw that with the drone incident, as it was likely Italian fighter jets that scrambled to take out the

14:49drone.

14:50Air policing has always been a key NATO priority in the Baltic region, and now soldiers are heading into Lithuania

14:56too.

14:57In a September 14th report, the Kyiv Post reported that Germany is going to add postings for the permanent brigade

15:02that it already has stationed in Lithuania,

15:04which could lead to up to 1,000 more German soldiers entering the Baltic nation.

15:09Germany's plan is to station 4,800 soldiers across NATO's eastern flank by the end of 2027.

15:15Right now, Berlin is about 60% of the way to hitting that goal.

15:19The extra 1,000 soldiers will bring it a little closer, as well as enhancing the NATO presence in Lithuania.

15:24As macabre as it may be to say, more German soldiers in Lithuania also means a high chance of Russia

15:30causing casualties against a nation other than Lithuania if it chooses to invade.

15:35If German soldiers start getting hurt, the call for Article 5 to be activated would be even louder than it

15:40was if it was just Lithuanians.

15:42This is collective defense in action, and it's the last thing that Russia wants to see.

15:48None of this is to say that Lithuania would be able to defeat Russia if the two went to war.

15:52That isn't the point. For Lithuania, these moves are about strengthening its defenses, readying its people,

15:58and ensuring that NATO has everything it needs to ensure a rapid response to any Russian aggression.

16:04Militarily, Lithuania's job will be to hold the line as a much larger NATO force is prepared to press back

16:09against Russian invaders.

16:10Lithuania knows that role, and it's preparing for war with Russia in the best ways that it can.

16:16More can always be done, of course.

16:17There are lessons to be learned from Ukraine, as well as things that Lithuania can do to strengthen its defense.

16:23Beyond accepting that it will likely be among the first nations called into action in the case of a war

16:27with Russia,

16:28the country should preserve strong engagement with the US, while also seeking to strengthen itself via a more Europe-focused

16:34defense, says the Jamestown Foundation.

16:37Stronger cooperation with Baltic, Nordic, and Polish partners will help NATO's eastern flank present a more united front right off

16:44the bat.

16:44The focus on integrating new technologies, such as drones and sensors, should also be increased, the same outlet says.

16:50Lithuania seems to understand that. Drones are the centerpiece of the exercise we told you about earlier.

16:56And perhaps the most important thing that Lithuania can do is incorporate Ukraine's battlefield experience as much as possible,

17:03as Ukraine has created the blueprint for how a smaller nation can fight back against Russian aggression.

17:08That's already happening, too. The two countries signed a drone defense deal in May, and have also collectively said that

17:16they are working to rid themselves of administrative obstacles that could slow that deal down.

17:21And don't forget that Ukraine is part of Strong Griffin 2026, which only deepens its cooperation with Lithuania.

17:27The point of all of this is that Lithuania is taking Russia more seriously than ever.

17:31A drone incursion that forced fighter jets to scramble is already big news for the country, even if such drone

17:38incursions are becoming depressingly commonplace.

17:40What's really important is the response. The Kremlin has dark plans for Lithuania that could include an invasion.

17:47Lithuania needs to make sure that it's ready for anything. And it's doing just that.

17:51All the while, Russia is escalating its hybrid war against NATO nations. That could end up being a mistake.

17:57Beyond Lithuania, Russia has been sending drones into Germany. Berlin isn't happy.

18:02It's preparing for a fight, too, and you can learn all about how by watching our video.

18:07But before you click away, are you enjoying our reporting? Subscribe and share your thoughts below.

18:12And if you'd like to support the real people behind the channel, consider becoming a member for exclusive content.

18:17And thank you for watching.

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