Article Posted on : - Sep 22, 2011

High Mobility Artillery Rocket System. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

CAMDEN, ARKANSAS (BNS): Lockheed Martin has handed over the 400th High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to the US Army.

The Army has received 300 HIMARS mobile rocket launchers to date, while the US Marine Corps and international partners have taken delivery of 100 launchers.

In service since 2005, HIMARS brings Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) firepower to a wheeled chassis. It carries a single six-pack of rockets or one Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile, and can launch the entire MLRS family of munitions. It is C-130-transportable and can be deployed into areas previously inaccessible to heavier launchers.

HIMARS also incorporates the self-loading, autonomous features that have made MLRS the premier rocket artillery system in the world. The HIMARS fire-control system, electronics and communications units are interchangeable with the existing MLRS M270A1 launcher, and the crew and training are the same, according to Lockheed.

“The HIMARS launcher is in high demand because it’s a combat proven system that provides Soldiers and Marines with a reliable, mobile platform to launch precision rockets and missiles,” said Scott Arnold, vice president of precision fires in Lockheed Martin’s Missiles and Fire Control business.