Since the onset of the Russian invasion of their neighbor Ukraine, Poland has decided to accelerate several different acquisitions to improve their defenses. For one, Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Blaszczak just recently announced his request to buy approximately 500 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems from the United States.
In a tweet released by the Polish Defence Ministry, Blaszczak confirmed their plan to increase the overall capabilities of their military’s artillery and rocket forces. His announcement details that he has already “signed an LOR related to the acquisition of about 500 M142 HIMARS launchers for more than 80 batteries of the Homar system.”
HIMARS is an acronym for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. This system provides a “shoot-and-scoot” capability that, generally, improves both crew and platform survivability in the most high-threat environments.
In addition, Blasczcak’s tweet detailed that, under his plan, a significant portion of these systems will be manufactured by factories based in Poland. Furthermore, he says, Warsaw will ensures that the weapons will effectively integrate with the current Polish battlefield management systems.
Back in October of 2018, the Polish government sent its initial official request to acquire rocket launchers made by Lockheed Martin from the United States, under its Homar program. The two governments set to begin their deal the following February (in 2019), which enabled them to procure at least the first 20 launchers in this, the primary phase of the program.
The Polish Ministry of National Defence confides, as well, that the first HIMARS contract had an estimated value of around $414 million. Upon completion, deliveries guaranteed in this deal are expected to be completed at some point in 2023.
