On September 11, 2023, at the Polish Army Artillery training Center in Torun, Polish Minister of National Defense Mariusz Blaszczak approved the framework agreement of the Polish Armament Agency with the American corporation Lockheed Martin on the acquisition by Poland of 486 sets of launchers of the M142 HIMARS missile system for its "polonized" version, designated Homar-A.
Self-propelled launcher of the M142 HIMARS missile system in the Polish version Homar-A on the Polish military automobile chassis Jelcz 663.45 (6x6) at the exposition of the defense industrial exhibition MSPO-2023 in Kielce (Poland), September 2023 (c) Maciej Szopa / Defence24
The subject of the framework agreement is the supply of 486 M142 HIMARS launchers for the manufacture of 27 divisional sets of the Homar-A system (18 in each division), as well as logistics and training complexes. The American side will also provide technical support. According to the accepted schedule, deliveries should begin in 2025.
The implementation of the Homar-A program under this agreement will include the signing of separate executive contracts with both American contractors, including for the supply of missile ammunition, and with Polish contractors. It is planned to place orders to Polish industrial enterprises for the supply of command and technical security vehicles, ammunition and technical evacuation vehicles. The implementation of the Homar-A program involves a technology transfer that ensures maximum "polonization" of the system through the use of Polish elements, including, first of all, the integration of the purchased 486 M142 HIMARS launchers on the Polish military vehicle chassis Jelcz 663.45 (6x6) and the installation of the Polish integrated artillery control system TOPAZ. It is also planned to acquire technologies and licenses for the production of GMLRS/ER GMLRS guided missiles used in the HIMARS complex in Poland.
"I have approved an agreement on the acquisition of 486 HIMARS launchers for the Polish Army. Together with the launchers ordered in 2019, the Polish Army will have 500 HIMARS launchers. (...) The opposition says it's too much. No, ladies and gentlemen, it's not too much. The same number of launchers is needed to really deter the aggressor. Suppose that the rulers of the Kremlin decided to restore the Russian Empire. Our goal is to create a situation in which a strong Polish army will really be able to contain the aggressor. And we will do it. As I have repeatedly stated, in two years the Polish Army will have the strongest ground forces [among European NATO members], and one of the most important components of this army will be rocket artillery," Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said during the approval of the agreement.
Earlier in February 2019, the Polish Ministry of National Defense signed an agreement with the US government worth $ 414 million to supply Poland with one divisional set of the HIMARS missile system through the US program of intergovernmental foreign military sales Foreign Military Sales (FMS). The first division set of the HIMARS system ordered under the Polish Homar-A program includes 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 is delivered "in a configuration as close as possible to the standard American". The delivery was started in May 2023 and should be completed by the end of the year.
In May 2022, Polish Minister of National Defense 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. In February 2023, the US Department of Defense Agency for Military Cooperation (Defense Security Cooperation Agency - DSCA) sent a notification to the US Congress about the planned upcoming sale to Poland through the American FMS program of 486 launchers of the HIMARS complex manufactured by Lockheed Martin Corporation, as well as a large number (more than 9 thousand) guided missiles for them. The total cost of the proposed delivery was estimated at $10 billion, including missiles, support equipment, training equipment and training and technical support packages. Now the Polish side has signed a framework agreement on the acquisition of these 486 launchers for placement on Polish chassis.
The original American (left) and "polonized" (Homar-A, right) combat vehicles of the M142 HIMARS missile system at the approval ceremony of the agreement on the acquisition by Poland of 486 sets of launchers of the M142 HIMARS missile system. Torun, 11.09.2023 (c) Ministry of National Defense of Poland
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