Page 22 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

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DEFENCE BUSINESS HIMARS
DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
FUTURE PRECISION STRIKE
Elevated to almost cult status as a result of its use in Ukraine, Lockheed Martin’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is under consideration by Defence for its Land 8113 (Long Range Fires) program.
NIGEL PITTAWAY | CAMDEN, ARKANSAS & MELBOURNE
THE ADF is seeking to acquire a new, long-range, rocket artillery system by the mid-2020s, a capability that was initially fore- shadowed by the 2016 Defence White Paper and confirmed in the subsequent 2020 Defence Strategic Update (DSU 2020) and Force Structure Plan (FSP 2020). However, despite a recent US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) re- lease approving the sale of HIMARS to Australia, it would appear that any decision will now have to await the results of the Albanese government’s new strategic review in March.
HIMARS DESCRIBED
The M142 HIMARS is a high precision rocket artillery system capable of firing a number of different munitions,
with ranges of between 15 and 500 km, depending on the munition.
The wheeled launch vehicle is manufactured by Lock- heed Martin in Camden, Arkansas, with the chassis based on the US Army’s 5-ton XM1140A1 Family of Military Tac- tical Vehicles (FMTV) design, and fitted with a cab section manufactured by BAE Systems in the US.
The vehicle has an empty weight of 29,000 lbs (13,154 kg), a combat loaded weight of 35,800 lbs (16,283 kg), and it can be transported aboard a C-130 Hercules transport aircraft at the greater weight.
The munitions are manufactured and loaded into pods at another Lockheed Martin facility in Camden and al-