Lithuanians Go Heavy - SCAR Heavy

The Ministry of Defense for the Baltic nation of Lithuania is purchasing the FNH SCAR-H PR for their military's land forces.

Lithuania’s Ministry of Defense has ordered FN SCAR-H PR semi-automatic rifles for the country’s armed forces. The 7.62 mm rifle is produced by Belgian arms manufacturer FN Herstal.

The contract is worth 9.6 million litas (US $3.9 million), the ministry said in a statement. Deliveries of the weapons are scheduled to begin in 2014.

The FN SCAR-H PR rifles will be supplied to the Lithuanian land forces. The weapons are to be fitted with rifle scopes made by German manufacturer Schmidt & Bender. The amount of rifles ordered was not disclosed by the ministry.

The Land Forces have 3,500 regulars and 4,700 volunteers or reservists.  It is composed of one heavy mechanized infantry brigade of three infantry battalions and one artillery battalion.

Given the size of the contract and that it is for a semi-auto rifle, I'm guessing it is intended for arming their equivalent of the squad designated marksmen and not for universal use by the Land Forces.

The Land Forces are currently equipped with the Heckler & Koch G36.