US to sell Poland 20 M142 HIMARS for an estimated cost of $655 million

The U.S. State Department has approved a possible sale to Poland of 20 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) mobile rocket launchers at an estimated cost of $665 million. The potential sale also includes guided rockets, 30 Army Tactical Missile System long-range battlefield missiles, data systems, support vehicles and training equipment. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency delivered the required certification notifying Congress of this possible sale, November 29,2018. The State Department says the sale will support a NATO ally and U.S. security interests, will be easily integrated into the Polish and will not seriously affect the balance of power in Eastern Europe. The deal falls under Foreign Military Sales.

Poland has requested to buy twenty (20) High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) M142 Launchers, thirty-six (36) Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) M31 Unitary, nine (9) Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) M30A1 Alternative Warheads, thirty (30) Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) M57 Unitary, twenty-four (24) Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems (AFATDS), twenty (20) Multiple Launcher Pod Assembly M68A2 Trainers, twenty-four (24) M1151A1 High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs), and nine (9) M1151A1 High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheel Vehicles (HMMWVs).

The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a wheeled Multiple Launch Rocket System that can fire up to six rockets at a time. The rockets depending on the model can carry submunitions for area suppression or a single unitary blast warhead. It also uses the Army Tactical Missile System, a long-range battlefield missile with a range of over 190 miles. Previous versions were capable of carrying submunitions, but current models use a single blast-fragmentation warhead due to international concern over the effects of unexploded cluster munitions on civilian populations.

The HIMARS is a light multiple rocket launcher developed jointly in the late 1990s by the Companies BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin for the United States Army. The truck chassis is produced by BAE Systems Mobility & Protection Systems while the he rocket launching system is produced by Lockheed Martin Missiles & Fire Control. The rocket system has seen use in the first Gulf War, Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan. Along with the M270 Multiple Rocket Launch System, it is the primary surface-to-surface battlefield rocket and missile system employed by the U.S. military. The HIMARS, M270 and the ATACMS missile have been heavily exported to allied nations across the world.