[4] Male conscription is in place since 2015, when it was reinstated after being ended in 2008, due to concerns about the geopolitical environment in light of the Russo-Ukrainian War.

[7] Fighting on Lithuania's northern and western frontiers was unceasing, the Lithuanian state expanded southwards and eastwards in the Late Middle Ages.

[7] According to 13th-century sources, Lithuanian soldiers rode horses on military expeditions but fought on foot, arranged in three rows during battles.

[8] Although the Germans initially had superior weaponry in the 13th century, the Lithuanians won the Battles of Saule (1236), Durbe (1260), Karuse (1270) and the Aizkraukle (1279).

[7] As the German and Livonian orders were constantly reinforced by Christian European countries, it became increasingly difficult to defend Lithuania solely by military means.

[7] The Lithuania Army engaged in biological warfare already in 1422, when it catapulted manure made from infected victims into an opposing Bohemian town as part of the Hussite Wars.

[7] The strengthening Grand Duchy of Moscow starting in the late 15th century waged unceasing wars over Lithuania's eastern territories.

[7] In 1514, during the fourth war, the Lithuanians triumphed over the numerically larger Muscovite army in the famous Battle of Orsha.

[9] In the late 1570s and early 1580s, the Lithuanian and Polish armies cooperated in Stephen Báthory's incursions into Russia.

[7] During the war with Sweden from 1600 to 1629, the Lithuanian army defeated Swedish forces three times their number at the Battle of Kircholm in 1605.

[7] The Bar Confederation (1768–1772), which happened partly in Lithuania, attempted but failed to stem the increasing influence of Imperial Russia and the First partition of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth followed.

[7] In the face of the possible loss of independence, military reforms in the Four Years' Sejm (1788–1792) significantly expanded the Lithuanian army, which reached a strength of 17,500.

[7] In the end, the Uprising was defeated and much of the remainder of the Grand Ducal Lithuanian Army was lost in the Battle of Praga on 4 November 1794.

[7] With the uprising defeated, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Kingdom of Poland ended with the Third Partition, and their respective armies being disbanded.

[19] The Ministry of Defence's first order, issued on 23 November 1918, is considered to mark the establishment of the modern Lithuanian Armed Forces.

Armoured equipment in the interwar period,primarily consisted of light tanks and armored cars: French Renault FT-17s, British Vickers Carden-Loyd M1934s and M1936s, Swedish Landsverk-181, and German Ehrhardt E-V/4.

In 1940, Lithuania had a considerable Air Force, consisting of 118 aircraft with about half of them designed and produced locally.

After the January Events, the Voluntary National Defence Service was formed of lightly armed volunteers.

[20] Western European countries, especially Sweden, helped to arm the initial force by selling or donating excess equipment.

Conscription ended in September 2008, but was reintroduced in 2015 due to deteriorating geopolitical environment after the Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.

[26] After the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Lithuania rapidly increased the defence spending, becoming one of the top spenders by GDP in the NATO military alliance.

[27] The following years marked major acquisitions, including M142 HIMARS with the ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, additional NASAMS medium-range air defence systems and artillery ammunition.

Units are supplied with modern variants of anti-tank weapons (M72 LAW, Carl Gustaf, AT4, FGM-148 Javelin) as well as man-portable air-defense systems (PZR Grom, RBS-70, FIM-92 Stinger).

Lithuanian Land forces have carried out major modernization and acquired more new weapons and heavier armour.

The Special Operations Forces can be called upon inside the territory of Lithuania when law enforcement agencies lack or do not have the necessary capabilities to react to terrorist attacks.

Together with another six Central and Eastern European countries, Lithuania was invited to join the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in the 2002 Prague summit and became a member of the Alliance in March 2004.

Mechanised Infantry Brigade "Iron Wolf" was affiliated to the Danish Division based on agreements signed by Denmark and Lithuania in August 2006.

Fighter jets of NATO members are permanently deployed in Zokniai airport near the city Šiauliai to provide cover for the Baltic states airspace.

Following the 2016 Warsaw summit, NATO Enhanced Forward Presence was deployed in the Baltic States with the multinational battalion battle group in Lithuania being led by Germany.

From the summer of 2005 until 2014, Lithuania has been part of the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan (ISAF), leading a Provincial Reconstruction Team (PRT) in the town of Chaghcharan in the province of Ghor.