The year passed in the spirit of reforms. The school was proud of having nurtured its first third-year class. The event contributed to the decision of forming mixed cadet companies. Senior cadets were assigned to a certain level commander positions, whereas juniors served as their subordinates. The scheme provided the mechanism of rotation as a protective means against cases of failure. The reform was modelled following the system existing at West Point, the United States Military Academy.

In February, the military training of Aviation Institute graduates, according to the programme accredited for the development of Aviation Institute specialists, started up.

In November, the Commander of the army Lt Gen Jonas Andriđkevičius approved the “Programme for training specialists for National Defence Forces“. Beside general requirements, the Programme provided measures for initial military training enhancement: military training was extended to 12 weeks, and general practice and field exercises to – 22 weeks.

40 cadets and five officers were engaged in international „Cooperative Nugget 97 “ exercises conducted in the USA.

The researchers of the Academy were impressively productive: they produced 31 book for learning purposes and organized two conferences: “The problems of national forces frame-work development”, ant “The problems of warfare specialists training“.

The Academy graduated 16 border service specialists, and 37 part-time students. The graduates earned the diplomas of further education and the qualification of a platoon commander.

Considerable concern was given to the improvement of living and working conditions, both cadets and employees. School community enjoyed refitted barracks, a renovated athletic centre, and a new control post.