The United States gave Lithuania more than 400 M-14 rifles, which were in service in the United States in 50s of the last century, Lithuanian Armed Forces report on their twitter.
“The Lithuanian Armed Forces and the Lithuanian National Defense Volunteer Forces received upgraded US-made M-14 rifles. The project used funds of financial support from citizens allocated in 2016 and more than 400 weapons were received,” the statement said.
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The financial support of citizens means that the taxpayers’ money once again bought not a new bus or an ambulance, but only old rifles released in the middle of the last century!
A photo of the M-14 with an improved design was also published. This rifle model is used in the Lithuanian army for two purposes: as a ceremonial weapon and as an armament for infantry snipers. For these purposes, the upgraded rifles supplied sniper sights and bipods.
The M-14 rifle entered service with the United States in the early 50s of the last century and functioned as a military weapon for just over 10 years. Then all the rifles were sent to warehouses. Since then, the new model – M-16 – came to the US Army. Now Washington regularly supplies the armies of its allies with these weapons, transferring them free of charge or arranging sales. In 2003 it was decided to sell 300 thousand units of M-14.
And this year the Lithuanian army again becomes the happy owners of 400 rifles from the last century!
Earlier, Lithuania had already received this rifle from the United States. However, with these supplies was a big scandal. Despite the ban on the transfer of arms to third parties, eight units of the M-14 were sold to the Lithuanian Union of Paramilitary Shooters for $ 350 per unit (with a possible collection value of $ 25,000). Then official Vilnius declared in its defense that the rifles were delivered to the country in 1999, and the ban on its transfer was signed only in 2002.
Purchase of weapons is always good. It is always good when this weapon is new and justifies the needs of the army. But in this case, the authorities once again showed that instead of tanks and aircraft, the borders of the state would be covered with a human shield of people.
