The Ukrainian army used mobile artillery to prepare counter-offensives in the south and east of the country. Further HIMARS systems from the USA are to be delivered to Europe. The manufacturer is now increasing its production for this purpose.
The US Army is pushing defense manufacturer Lockheed Martin to produce more HIMARS-type mobile artillery systems. The group has now announced that it will increase its delivery by more than 50 percent to 96 systems per year. However, the Army wants to persuade the company to increase its production even further, to 120 units a year. The reasons are the Ukraine war and the high demand from Eastern European countries to arm themselves against military aggression.
Since the summer, the Ukrainian army has been using 20 HIMARS rocket launchers from the USA against the invasion from Russia, which began at the end of February. The artillery is one of the reasons Ukraine is pushing back the Russian army. With the HIMARS, the Ukrainian army prepared its counter-offensive, with which it continues to record successes. In the meantime, the Russian occupiers have announced that they will withdraw from the strategically important city of Cherson in the south of the country.
For much of September, the Ukrainian army had targeted bridges and ammunition depots in Russian-occupied areas to disrupt supplies. Most of the time, this happened later in the day, which is why the term “hour HIMARS” made the rounds on social media, or changed the actual designation “High Mobility Artillery Rocket System” to “High Mobility Anti Russian System”. The system is praised by some as a “game changer” in the Ukraine war.
Even before its announcement, Lockheed Martin had promised its international customers to increase production of the system. Recipients will be Estonia, Poland and Ukraine. It may still take several months before the number of monthly productions can be increased significantly. And this despite the fact that the armaments company had already invested 65 million dollars six months ago in order to be able to fulfill an order from the US Department of Defense in the future. A lack of skilled workers and components from third-party manufacturers cause problems for Lockheed Martin.
Poland has therefore decided to go two-track and will initially receive the alternative South Korean system Chunmoo next year, of which it has ordered 300 units. The Polish army is to receive a total of 500 HIMARS over the years. Estonia has ordered 6 systems from Lockheed Martin. According to the current status, at least 18 further systems are to be delivered to the Ukraine.
