On Thursday, Lithuanian Defence Minister Arvydas Anušauskas met with the US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in Washington and signed the contract for acquiring High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers.For a preliminary price of 495 million US dollars, Lithuania is buying eight HIMARS launchers from the US, along with several types of missiles, including long-range missiles that can reach targets 300 kilometres away.“Let me commend Lithuania for its significant defence spending and investment in new capabilities,” the US Defence Secretary added at the meeting on Thursday.HIMARS is manufactured by Lockheed Martin, one of the largest arms industry companies in the world.The HIMARS are mounted on trucks that carry a container with six precision-guided rockets with a range of about 70 kilometres or one ATACMS missile with a range of up to 300 kilometres."