The U.S. State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to the Royal Netherlands Army (Koninklijke Landmacht) of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers and related equipment for an estimated cost of $670 million. The Government of the Netherlands has requested a possible purchase of 20 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers; 39 M30A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) Alternative Warhead (AW) Missile Pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS); 38 M31A2 GMLRS Unitary (GMLRS-U) High Explosive (HE) Missile Pods with IMPS; 80 M57 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) Missile Pods; and seventeen (17) M1152A1 High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles (HMMWVs).
Also included are M28A2 Reduced Range Practice Rocket (RRPR) pods; radios with similar “SINCGARS” capability, including vehicular dual long-range radio systems w/GPS; single radio, long range vehicular system w/GPS; High Frequency/VHF radios; M1084A2 cargo trucks, Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTVs) Resupply Vehicles (RSVs); M1089A2 wrecker truck, FMTVs; M1095 5-ton trailer FMTVs; Simple Key Loaders (SKLs), AN/PYQ-10; Defense Advanced Global Positioning System Receivers (DAGRs); machine gun mounts; battle management systems, Vehicle Integration Kits, ruggedized laptops, camouflage screen; support equipment; communications equipment; spare parts; test sets; training and training equipment.
The M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the United States Army and mounted on a standard United States Army Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles (FMTV) truck frame. The HIMARS carries one pod with either six GMLRS rockets or one ATACMS missile. It is based on the United States Army’s FMTV five-ton truck, and is capable of launching all rockets specified in the Multiple Launch Rocket System Family of Munitions (MFOM). HIMARS ammunition pods are interchangeable with the M270 MLRS; however, it is limited to a single pod as opposed to the standard two for the M270 and its variants. The launcher can be transported by Airbus A400M Atlas and Lockheed C-130 Hercules aircraft.
Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) rockets have an extended range and add GPS-aided guidance to their inertial navigation system. GMLRS rockets were introduced in 2005 and can be fired from the M270A1 and M270A2, the European M270A1 variants (British Army M270B1, German Army MARS II, French Army Lance Roquette Unitaire (LRU), Italian Army MLRS Improved (MLRS-I), Finnish Army M270D1), and the lighter M142. M30 and M31 rockets are, except for their warheads, identical. The MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) is a surface-to-surface missile manufactured by the U.S. defense company Lockheed Martin. It has a range of up to 190 miles (300 km), with solid propellant, and is 13 feet (4.0 m) high and 24 inches (610 mm) in diameter.
