Latvia to purchase machine guns for 5.5 million euros
The Ministry of Defense of Latvia is spending more than 5.5 million euros on the purchase of machine guns and their components, reported the Delfi news portal.
7.62- and 12.7-millimeter machine guns and the components for their maintenance will be supplied by the Belgian arms company FN Herstal.
The weapons were procured through negotiations rather than holding a tender. The machine guns will be used by the regular troops of the National Armed Forces and the units of the Zemessardze, the Latvian National Guard.
For security purposes, the Ministry of Defense will not disclose the exact number of purchased firearms.
At the end of 2014, FN Herstal already won a tender for the supply of machine guns for the Latvian army. The Ministry of Defense then acquired 12.7 mm Browning M2HB-QCB machine guns for 1.8 million euros.