According to a Tweet published on November 17, 2022, by the Polish Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of National Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, the first American M142 HIMARS MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) will be delivered next year to Poland.
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American M142 HIMARS MLRS Multiple Launch Rocket System at MSPO defense exhibition in Poland, September 2013. (Picture source Army Recognition)
In November 2018, the US State Department has made a determination approving a possible Foreign Military Sale to Poland of 20 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System M142 HIMARS, and other related equipment for an estimated cost of $655 million.
Poland has requested United States to buy twenty High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) M142 Launchers, thirty-six Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) M31 Unitary, nine Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) M30A1 Alternative Warheads, thirty Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) M57 Unitary, twenty-four Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems (AFATDS), and twenty Multiple Launcher Pod Assembly M68A2 Trainers.
On May 26, 2022, the Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczakon announced the signature a Letter of Request (LOR) with the United States for the acquisition of 500 M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems) with the goal to strengthen the artillery capabilities of the Polish Army.
Citing information from Mariusz Błaszczak, the American company Lockheed Martin will provide 200 additional M142 HIMARS to Poland. With the war in Ukraine, the M142 HIMARS has become one of the most popular artillery systems and has shown great efficiency in terms of precision and destruction against Russian forces.
The M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is a combat-proven, wheeled artillery system, rapidly deployable via C-130 military transport aircraft and operable in all weather and visibility conditions. HIMARS is based on a five-ton modified Family of Medium Tactical Vehicles chassis. The use of wheeled chassis allows for faster road movement and lower operating costs, and requires far fewer strategic airlifts (via C-5 or C-17) to transport a firing battery than the tracked M270 Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) that it replaces.
The M142 HIMARS carries either six rockets or one missile, is self-loading and self-locating, and is operated by a three-man crew protected from launch exhaust/debris and ballistic threats by an armored man-rated cab. It operates within the MLRS command, control, and communications structure.
The M142 HIMARS provides responsive, highly accurate, and extremely lethal surface-to-surface rocket and missile fires from 15 to 300 kilometers. It can fire all munitions in the current and planned suite of the MLRS Family of Munitions (MFOM), including Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missiles and Guided MLRS (GMLRS).
