Executive Summary
Lithuania funds defense at 5.38 percent of gross domestic product (4.79 billion euros in 2026, about 1.7 billion for weapons) but has no fellowship paying researchers to work on military problems. The General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy, Vytautas Magnus University, Vilnius University, and Kaunas University of Technology hold the talent. Top researchers drift to commercial work or to higher-paying defense industries in the UK, Germany, and US. Without a program, Lithuania struggles to win European Defence Fund consortia (1.1 billion euros in 2026 calls) and NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator (DIANA) work. Allied references: Ukraine's BRAVE1 issued 470-plus grants worth about 35 million euros and helped scale drone output to roughly two million in 2024; Israel's Talpiot routes students through nine years of defense research; the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) uses three-to-five-year rotating program managers; Estonia hosts NATO's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. The next step is a feasibility study by the Ministry of National Defence with the academies, the Riflemen Union, and the Seimas.
The Problem
Russian forces are reconstituting and may reach offensive readiness toward the end of the decade. Hybrid pressure is already routine: late-2025 balloon incursions closed Vilnius International Airport, and Baltic GPS jamming is now persistent. Ukraine has shown that university researchers paired to frontline units can deliver fielded capability in weeks rather than years. Lithuanian academic and military communities remain largely disconnected.
No dedicated defense research fellowship program exists in Lithuania. Allied benchmarks: the United States National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowship funds roughly 160 doctoral students annually; the UK Defence Science and Technology Laboratory runs about 100 doctoral studentships with France since 2011; Israel's Talpiot accepts roughly two percent of applicants into a nine-year defense research and development track; Singapore's DSO National Laboratories employs 1,700-plus defense researchers; Estonia hosts the NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence. Lithuania has none of these mechanisms.
Without action: Brain drain continues as Lithuanian researchers take commercial or foreign-defense roles at higher pay. Defense procurement remains import-heavy. Lithuania struggles to qualify for European Defence Fund consortia and NATO Defence Innovation Accelerator calls. Allies and partners (the French Institut des Hautes Etudes de Defense Nationale, the Estonian Centre for Defence and Security Strategy, the Polish Centre for Eastern Studies, the Finnish Institute of International Affairs) build the regional knowledge network without a Lithuanian seat at the table.
Lithuanian Context
Lithuania's existing institutions (the General Jonas Zemaitis Military Academy of Lithuania, Vytautas Magnus University, Vilnius University Faculty of International Relations and Political Science, Kaunas University of Technology) and the Riflemen Union (Lietuvos Sauliu Sajunga) volunteer-reservist tradition are natural anchors for a fellowship program. Whether the right form is a stand-alone fellowship, an expanded Military Academy research mandate, or a Defence Materiel Agency cell is a Lithuanian determination. Brain-drain pressure from UK, German, and US private defense industries must be addressed by stipend levels, clearance pathways, and dual-use career tracks the feasibility study should size.