Lithuania has completed the installation of concrete anti-tank barriers, known as “dragon’s teeth”, along unused crossings on its borders with Belarus and Russia’s Kaliningrad region, reinforcing its evolving Baltic Defence Line. The Colonel Juozas Vitkus Engineer Battalion spearheaded placement at sites including Šumskas, Lavoriškės, Raigardas, Latežeris, and Romaniškės, aiming to complicate any vehicular incursion via lesser-used routes.
General Raimundas Vaiksnoras explained that this move represents the “tactical level” of a broader defense concept. These obstacles, while effective standalone, form part of an integrated, three-echelon system designed to delay, channel, and degrade enemy movement before reinforcements can arrive. The first layer spanning roughly five kilometers behind the frontier incorporates ditches, dragon’s teeth, razor wire, minefields, trenches, and fortified infantry positions.
Beyond this lies a second zone (10–15 km inland) featuring engineered chokepoints, demolition-ready bridges, and modular engineer parks to obstruct advances. The third tier supports a final line of resistance, equipped with pre-marked roadside trees for rapid felling, transformed civilian infrastructure, electronic warfare systems, long-range missile systems like HIMARS, and loitering munitions such as Switchblade drones.
This phased fortification is part of the wider Baltic Defence Line—a trilateral initiative among Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia initiated in early 2024, with construction already underway in Estonia and Lithuania’s phase launched in mid-2024. Lithuania is investing heavily in this defense architecture, allocating more than €1.1 billion over the next decade, including €800 million for anti-tank mines and supplemental counter-mobility tools.
The strategy also ties into broader NATO objectives. Lithuania sees this “delay belt” as critical to safeguarding the vulnerable Suwałki corridor, preserving NATO’s eastern land link. Plans include coordinated multinational support, live-fire exercises under NATO’s “Iron Shield” series by early 2026, and substantial defense enhancements like the permanent stationing of a German armoured brigade.
