VILNIUS, October 5 (RIA Novosti, Vladimir Vodo) - The Lithuanian Defense Ministry has requested $20 million from the government to purchase a new radar weeks after a Russian pilot crashed a fighter jet in the country, minister Gediminas Kirkilas said Wednesday.
"If we receive these funds, we will be able to purchase the new three-dimensional radar and therefore fully equip our air defense system," Kirkilas said after a cabinet meeting.
He did not deny that the issue of buying a new radar was linked to the Russian Su-27 that went down in Lithuania, but said the radar would not have prevented the accident.
Lithuania previously said it had obtained an Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) system from the wreck of the Russian aircraft. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov denied this, saying the IFF system's self-destruct mechanism would have activated when the pilot ejected from the aircraft.
