BRUSSELS, April 24 (UPI) -- Defense officials from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have signed a joint procurement agreement for recoilless rifle ammunition with the European Defense Agency.
The agency said the multiyear procurement of various types of rounds for the Carl Gustav recoilless rifle, which will be obtained through EDA, is worth as much as $65.1 million.
The weapon is made by Saab of Sweden.
The agreement, which governs the rights and responsibilities of contributing member countries and the agency, comes under EDA's Effective Procurement Methods initiative in which the agency acts as a central purchasing body and pools and consolidates the needs of its members.
The Baltic states have joined that initiative others have expressed interest in doing so in the future.
The European Defense Agency says 20-50 percent of procurement costs can be saved through shared procurement.
The joint procurement agreement was signed Tuesday by Latvian Minister of Defense Artis Pabriks, Lithuanian Minister of National Defense Juozas Olekas and Estonian Undersecretary for Defense Policy Sven Sakkov.
