On May 15, 2023, at the 1st Transport Aviation Base of the Polish Air Force at Warsaw International Airport, the ceremony of acceptance by the Polish Army of the first five delivered combat vehicles of the American M142 HIMARS missile system manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation took place. These first five M142 combat vehicles were delivered earlier in the day to Warsaw Airport from the United States by the flight of the An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines. The ceremony of their acceptance was attended by Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak and US Deputy Secretary of State Richard R. Verma.
The first five M142 combat vehicles of the American Lockheed Martin HIMARS missile system received by Poland, delivered from the USA to Warsaw airport by the flight of the An-124-100 Ruslan transport aircraft of the Ukrainian airline Antonov Airlines, 05/15/2023 (c) the Ministry of National Defense of PolandRecall that in February 2019, the Polish Ministry of National Defense signed an agreement with the US government worth $ 414 million to supply Poland through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS) with one divisional set of the HIMARS missile system.
The first division set of the HIMARS system ordered as part of the Polish Homar program included 18 M142 combat vehicles and two training installations, as well as GMLRS correctable missiles, ATACMS operational and tactical missiles and LCRR practical missiles, plus related equipment and systems. The agreement also includes training and technical support services. The divisional kit should be delivered "in a configuration as close as possible to the standard American". [...]
The specific quantities of missiles purchased by Poland for HIMARS under the 2019 agreement were not disclosed, however, in a notification issued in November 2018 by the US Department of Defense Agency for Military Cooperation (Defense Security Cooperation Agency - DSCA) to the US Congress on the supply to Poland through the FMS of the first divisional set of the HIMARS system, it was stated that 36 six-shooters were to be included in the delivery transport and launch modules with six GMLRS M31 Modular precision-guided missiles with a monoblock warhead in each (a total of 216 missiles), nine six-shot transport and launch modules with six GMLRS M30A1 Alternative Warhead missiles with a fragmentation warhead in each (a total of 54 missiles), 30 ATACMS M57 Modular tactical missiles with a monoblock warhead, and 20 practical LCRR missiles. Also, the delivery should include 24 sets of Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data Systems (AFATDS) artillery fire control system, 20 M68A2 training modules, 33 M1151A1 HMMWV vehicles, as well as other related property and equipment, as well as training. The total cost of delivery in the notification was estimated at $656 million.
Speaking now at the acceptance ceremony of the first five M142 HIMARS combat vehicles delivered to Poland, Mariusz Blaszczak said that all 18 ordered combat vehicles should be delivered during 2023, and the entire divisional set will be delivered to the 16th Mechanized Division of the Polish army.
Mariusz Blaszczak also stated: "Soon we will create the HIMARS Academy in Torun, modeled on the Abrams Academy. This will be a place that will serve, on the one hand, everything related to logistics, HIMARS service, and will also be used for training gunners. Our goal is to strengthen the Polish Army as much as possible. HIMARS Academy will be another asset for us when it comes to training gunners from other countries of the North Atlantic Alliance from the eastern flank of NATO. And it will also be a very important argument in our efforts to ensure that the maintenance of HIMARS, as well as the joint production of HIMARS, take place in Poland - primarily for use by the Polish Army, but also for use by other NATO countries that are interested in owning or already have HIMARS."
Earlier in May 2022, Minister Mariusz Blaszczak announced that he had signed a new official request to the US government for Poland to purchase more than 500 HIMARS missile systems through FMS to form "more than 80 batteries of the Homar system." At the same time, it was stated that "a high level of polonization is planned" for the production of this equipment and its integration with the Polish combat control system."
Accordingly, on February 7, 2023, the American DSCA issued name/news/685394_vozmozhnaya_postavka_polshe_486_amerikanskih_raketnyh_kompleksov_himars.html " target="_blank" rel="nofollow">notification of the planned upcoming sale of 486 more HIMARS combat vehicles to Poland through the FMS line, as well as a large number (more than 9 thousand) guided missiles for them (including 45 ATACMS missiles). The total cost of such a delivery was estimated at $10 billion, including missiles, auxiliary equipment, training equipment and training and technical support packages. According to the notification, the delivery should include 18 M142 HIMARS combat vehicles (apparently in the standard American version) and 468 sets of HIMARS launchers (apparently for installation on a Polish-made chassis).
It should be noted that the DSCA notifications are absolutely not equivalent to a contract, and it is unclear how many sets of HIMARS Poland will eventually be able to purchase, even over a fairly long period. Moreover, it is known about the limited capabilities of Lockheed Martin for the production of both HIMARS launchers (it is only supposed to bring their production to 96 per year) and GMLRS series missiles for them, despite the fact that after their successful combat use in Ukraine, a whole queue of confirmed and potential customers is already being built for HIMARS complexes.
In view of this, in the autumn of 2022, Poland signed a contract worth $ 3.55 billion with the South Korean company Hanwha Aerospace (as part of the Hanwha group) for the supply of 218 South Korean modular multi-caliber multiple launch rocket systems K239 Chunmoo to the Polish Army from 2023 to 2027, as well as missiles for them, which are a kind of analogs of the HIMARS complex, and in general, the framework The agreement with the South Korean side involves the acquisition by Poland of 288 multiple launch rocket systems K239 Chunmoo.
The war in Ukraine and the successful use of HIMARS complexes by the Ukrainian armed forces contributed to the increased attention to the Homar program by the Polish military and political leadership and the adoption of the notorious plan for the purchase of more than 500 HIMARS combat vehicles. However, in light of the agreements already signed for the purchase of 288 South Korean K239 Chunmoo complexes, Polish observers believe that in the end Poland is unlikely to order more than 200 additional HIMARS combat vehicles.
At the ceremony on May 15, 2023, Mariusz Blaszczak confirmed that "we are negotiating a new deal for HIMARS. The US Congress approved the sale of almost 500 launchers to Poland... We want to ensure that, in accordance with this new contract, which is currently being negotiated, the joint production of HIMARS, both launchers and missiles, is carried out in Poland... We are optimistic about the possibility of signing a contract for the purchase of additional launchers for the Polish Army as soon as possible."
The first five M142 combat vehicles received by Poland of the American Lockheed Martin HIMARS missile system, 05/15/2023 (c) Ministry of National Defense of PolandVideo: