US Army doubles HIMARS order to $1.9 billion
Lockheed Martin’s HIMARS has been in high demand. (Photo: US Army)
Lockheed Martin has been awarded a US$1.9 billion contract from the US Army for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) weapons doubling the original award for $861 million placed early last month.
The original deal covered work to be completed by May 2026. The new contract will push that work out to May 2028 and could be for as many as 200 systems, with the original order believed to be for about 100 systems.
HIMARS weapons have been in high demand with systems provided to Ukraine, Poland placing an order, Australia and Morocco being approved for Foreign Military Sales, Taiwan ordering more and the Netherlands requesting systems.
In April 2024, the US Presidential Drawdown Authority (PDA) was approved with an estimated value of $1 billion and included range of vehicles and weapons including HIMARS. The PDA was on top of the same month’s $60 billion supplemental package for Ukraine. All packages this year have included systems, rockets or both.
HIMARS was designed to launch the entire MLRS family of munitions including Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) with a range of 70km, ER-GMLRS (150km), MGM-140 Army Tactical Missile System (300km) and Precision Strike Missiles (499km).
Related Equipment in Defence Insight
More from Land Warfare
-
Refresh of Romanian army vehicles speeds up
Romania received its first Cobra MkII 4×4 light tactical armoured vehicles, ordered Abrams main battle tanks (MBTs) and VAMTAC light vehicles, and is set to invest billions-of-dollars in infantry fighting vehicles.
-
Italy begins hunt for Puma replacement
The Italian Army operates Pumas in 6×6 and 4×4 configurations but the platforms are ageing and numbers have fallen with obsolescence also being an issue. Any replacement is likely to have a focus on the involvement of local industry.
-
Orders roll in for VAMTAC tactical vehicles as first is delivered to New Zealand
The VAMTAC (Vehículo de Alta Movilidad Táctico or High Mobility Tactical Vehicle) 4×4 by Urovesa is in service with or has been ordered by eight countries, the most recent being Spain this month and Romania last month.
-
CV90 user group signs agreement to improve procurement and commonality
The CV90 is in service with or ordered by ten countries. The agreement between six of these countries is designed to create commonality to provide economies of scale and a reduced training burden.