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Poland to buy 486 HIMARS launchers from Lockheed Martin

By Jaroslaw Adamowski

 Sep 11, 05:52 PM

High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems participate in the Saber Strike exercise at Bemoko Piskie, Poland, on June 16, 2017. (Markus Rauchenberger/U.S. Army)

WARSAW, Poland — Polish Defence Minister Mariusz Błaszczak on Monday approved a framework deal to buy 486 launcher-loader module kits for its M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems.

“In line with the adopted schedule, deliveries are expected to begin in 2025,” the Armament Agency, which is the ministry’s unit responsible for purchases of weapons and military gear, said in a statement.

The acquisition of the Lockheed Martin-made launchers is part of the Polish army’s Homar-A program. The nation’s defense industry will also be involved in the effort by supplying products and components, according to the agency.

The program “foresees transfer of technology” including “the acquisition of the technology of the selected rocket used by HIMARS systems,” the agency said.

This indicates that, in the long term, Poland wants the state-run defense industry to locally produce HIMARS rockets.

The framework deal comes more than seven months after the U.S. State Department backed Poland’s bid to purchase advanced rockets and rocket launchers worth about $10 billion. The approved sale also includes 45 M57 Army Tactical Missile Systems as well as hundreds of guided multiple launch rocket and warhead variants.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Poland accelerated and expanded various acquisition programs to bolster its rocket and artillery forces.

Under a deal signed in February 2019, the Polish ministry purchased 20 HIMARS launchers for about $414 million.