The US government has formally accepted a proposal to sell a $10 billion armaments package to Poland. It includes HIMARS artillery systems, practice missiles, support equipment and communications systems.

The State Department has sent an official note to Congress on the matter. The memo shows that Poland will purchase from the US 18 HIMARS long-range rocket artillery launchers and 45 ATACMS tactical missile systems, as well as various GMLRS launchers and guided munitions. The package also includes spare and repair parts, personnel training and equipment, and other logistics and programme support elements. 

HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is manufactured by Lockheed Martin. Poland purchased the first 20 (18 combat and two exercise) launchers on wheeled chassis in 2019 at a cost of $414 million.

In May last year, the Polish Ministry of Defence (MON) asked the US to prepare an offer for another approximately 500 sets. Given the needs of the US and other interested countries, the manufacturer concluded that it was possible to sell around 200 such launchers to Poland. As a result, Poland also ordered 218 K239 Chunmoo launchers from South Korea.

The introduction of multi-track missile launchers with missiles with a range of up to 300 km to the Polish army was envisaged by the Homar programme, which had been under preparation since 2007. The system was to be developed by domestic industry, and later it was envisaged that licence production would be carried out with a significant participation of domestic factories gathered in a consortium led by the Polish Armament Group. 

Talks with potential contractors had been ongoing since early 2015. Companies from the United States and Israel expressed their readiness to submit an offer, and initially the Turkey also took part in the talks. In 2018 MON decided to accelerate the programme and start direct negotiations with US partners.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński