Four Nations Unite For A HIMARS-terclass

Four nations came together for a joint training session on all things connected to the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System — better-known by its HIMARS acronym.

Estonia hosted the joint exercise at its base in Tapa, about 35 miles east of Tallinn, earlier this month. Across the two-week exercise American soldiers from Task Force Voit, part of the 4th Battalion, 133rd Field Artillery Regiment, Texas Army National Guard passed on their HIMARS skills to soldiers from the Baltic states.

The Latvian, Lithuanian and Estonian soldiers got to practise HIMARS maintenance and checks, as well as fire tasks, day and night driving of HIMARS trucks, missile reloading and launch preparation. After finishing the training all troops were rewarded with a special HIMARS missile container cover.

“Working with the HIMARS system is a lot of fun,” said U.S. Army Spc. Nicolas Johnson, a High Mobility Rocket System crewmember with Task Force Voit. “You get to fire big rockets!”

The M142 HIMARS is a light multiple rocket launcher developed in the late 1990s for the U.S. Army, manufactured by Lockheed Martin. The HIMARS pod can be equipped with either a set of six guided multiple-launch missiles with an 18-mile range or one larger Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile with a range of up to 190 miles.

It will also be able to fire the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM). Designed as the successor to ATACMS, the PrSM has two missiles per pod and a maximum range of up to 310 miles. Further developments to the propulsion system may see ramjets push its range as high as 620 miles for a land-based anti-ship variant. 

At present only the U.S. has the PrSM; it started rolling out deliveries of the missile to its forces in December 2023. Australia has become a partner in the programme and is likely to acquire PrSM capabilities in future under the AUKUS agreement, as is the U.K.

• You can read more about the exercise on the Lithuanian Armed Forces website and the US National Guard website