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The U.S. State Department has approved the sale to Poland of 18 HIMARS launchers along with ammunition for $10 billion, the Pentagon-owned Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) reported. “Most of them will be mounted on Polish trucks,” Mariusz Blaszczak, head of the Ministry of Defense, wrote.
“The Republic of Poland has requested to buy eighteen (18) M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers; four hundred sixty-eight (468) HIMARS Launcher Loader Module kits; forty-five (45) M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS); four hundred sixty-one (461) M30A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Alternative Warhead (GMLRS-AW) pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS); five hundred twenty-one (521) M31A2 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Unitary (GMLRS-U) pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS); and five hundred thirty-two (532) XM403 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System Extended Range Alternative Warhead (GMLRS-ER AW) pods,” one can read in a press release.
“The proposed sale will improve Poland’s military goals of updating capability while further enhancing interoperability with the United States and other allies. Poland intends to use these defence articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defence and deter regional threats,”
we read.
This is the second Polish government’s order for HIMARS rocket artillery systems. In 2019, Poland ordered 20 launchers, and deliveries are expected to begin this year.
Last year, National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that he had originally submitted an inquiry for the purchase of 500 HIMARS launchers, but as it later turned out, such an order exceeded the capabilities of the systems’ manufacturer, Lockheed Martin. Instead, the Polish government placed an order for 288 analogous Korean K239 Chunmoo systems.
“A huge reinforcement of the Polish artillery is getting closer. The U.S. State Department has agreed to sell Poland nearly 500 Himars launchers. Most of them will be mounted on Polish trucks. We will also purchase a stockpile of ammunition. We are entering stage of price negotiations,”
the Minister of National Defence wrote on Twitter.