Australia and Canada are both looking to buy HIMARS rocket artillery systems in agreements cumulatively worth about $2.5 billion.
The U.S. State Department has approved both potential sales, as per recent press statements from the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA).
Australia already operates Lockheed Martin’s M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems HIMARS: it received its first HIMARS units earlier this year and has already carried out live-fire tests.The new purchase request is for a further 48 systems at an estimated total cost of $705 million.
Canada is seeking to buy a smaller number of units — 26 — but because this represents its first purchase of HIMARS, the total cost of the potential procurement with the required missiles and ancillary equipment is higher: roughly $1.75 billion.
Canada’s application to purchase the rocket artillery systems is raising eyebrows because it appears to go against the Government’s publicly declared aim to distance itself militarily from the U.S. in terms of dependence on hardware.
The HIMARS system was developed in the 1990s and fires tactical ballistic missiles from a standard U.S. Army truck. Pods fitted to the launch vehicle can carry either six smaller rockets or one ATACMS missile. The smaller rockets have a range of just under six miles; the ATACMS munition has a range of up to 190 miles.
HIMARS can also fire the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), the weapon being developed to replace ATACMS; it is deployed in pairs and has a maximum range of slightly over 300 miles. It is this variant which is operated by Australia; it test-fired the weapon for the first time during the Talisman Sabre exercise this summer.
- You can read more details on the DSCA website about the Australian deal and Canadian deal
