Vilnius

Vilnius hosts RSI Europe, founded in April 2022 in direct response to Russia's full-scale invasion, which builds the Shpak FPV drone and is already delivering 9,500 units to an undisclosed NATO buyer. On 18 June 2026 RSI Europe and Ukraine's The Fourth Law signed a production memorandum of understanding at Eurosatory to jointly build drones in Lithuania under the Build with Ukraine framework, with Ukrainian citizens given priority for manufacturing jobs . Vilnius now anchors the Baltic corridor through which Ukraine exports combat-proven manufacturing know-how rather than finished hardware, seeding production lines across NATO host states while retaining intellectual property. The city has more than 80 defence-tech companies and Lithuania is scaling defence spending to 5.4% of GDP in 2026.

Vilnius is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a city population of approximately 618,000 and an urban area of 768,000 (2026), making it the largest city in the Baltics. It lies approximately 30 km from the Belarus border, near the Suwalki Gap corridor linking Poland to the Baltic states. Lithuania's national GDP is approximately $104.6 billion with GDP per Capita in the Vilnius metropolitan area above EUR 40,000. The country is NATO's frontline state on its north-eastern flank and is scaling defence spending to 5.4% of GDP in 2026.