Page 12 - AVALON 2023 - Day 1 | DAILY NEWS

HIMARS ROCKETS INTO AUSTRALIA

Lockheed Martin is displaying an M142 the initial procurement cost, the army wants In order to obtain its new artillery systems
High Mobility Artillery Rocket System a system that will prove cost-effective as soon as possible, Australia will likely fly
(HIMARS) at Avalon Airshow 2023. Yet the throughout its lifecycle. Fourthly, Australia them in by C-17A aircraft. Lockheed Martin
Australian Army will have to wait till the end wanted ease of maintenance. Notably, the and the US Army will be jointly responsible
of next year or early 2025 before getting its US military is achieving readiness levels of for training Australian crews.
hands on its own HIMARS. 95+% with HIMARS, on which subsystems
can be easily replaced. Harrison said there is no hurdle for
Canberra announced on 5 January that it Australia to assimilate HIMARS. It has an
had procured 20 rocket systems. The pro- The HIMARS is based on an FMTV armoured advantage in that the artillery already use
curement, prospectively announced by the truck chassis, and Australian systems will the Advanced Field Artillery Tactical Data
US Defense Security Cooperation Agency share the configuration of American ones. System (AFATDS), whilst operation of the
(DSCA) on 26 May 2022, is worth USD385 The DSCA notification listed 30 M30A2 HIMARS itself is relatively simple.
million. Guided Multiple Launch Rocket Systems
(GMLRS); 30 Alternative Warhead (AW) Lockheed Martin Australia is exploring
HIMARS is important for the Australian pods with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion options for supporting, maintaining and
Army, as it has never before operated rocket Systems (IMPS); 30 M31A2 GMLRS Unitary sustaining HIMARS within Australia. This
artillery. It represents a generational leap, high-explosive pods with IMPS; 30 XM403 may include an Australian support centre
as it moves beyond tube artillery to gain Extended Range GMLRS AW pods; 30 EM404 where activities can occur in a cost-effec-
a greater operational reach and stronger ER GMLRS Unitary pods; and ten M57 Army tive manner.
deterrence. Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS).
Australia is familiar with the HIMARS, for
Wayne Harrison, International Business Australia surely has its eyes fixed on the both the US Army and USMC have fired the
Development Principal at Lockheed Martin, 500km-range Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) M142 in exercises on local shores.
listed four criteria as being important to too, a replacement for the 300km-range
the customer before Australia plumped for ATACMS. Following an April 2021 memo- Other HIMARS customers include Jordan,
HIMARS. One was buying into a system not randum of understanding (MoU), Australia Poland, Romania, Singapore, Ukraine, the
near the end of its lifecycle and that still has invested nearly USD50 million in Increment UAE and USA. Harrison said two other
space to grow. 2 of the PrSM’s development. An import-
ant improvement on Increment 2 PrSMs is countries are likely to sign up soon too.
Secondly, Australia wants a multi-domain an enhanced seeker to allow ships and air To date, more than 550 launchers have
been manufactured, and more than 2 mil-
asset since, apart from ground-to-ground defence systems to be targeted. lion operating hours accumulated by the
roles, maritime strike is of interest to
Australia. Incidentally, the US Marine Corps The US Army will field Increment 1 missiles US-owned HIMARS fleet alone.
(USMC) has already fired a shipborne at the end of this year. Only one ATACMS
HIMARS to strike land targets. fits in each pod, whereas two PrSMs will To meet demand, Lockheed Martin is
fit. Lockheed Martin is also working on increasing launcher production capacity by
Thirdly, Australia is considering total cost of the GMLRS Extended Range rocket, which almost double, as well as larger production
of rockets and missiles.
ownership. Rather than just worrying about boosts range to 150km.
12 | FEBRUARY-28-2023 WWW.GBP.COM.SG/DAILY NEWS