A High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from Alpha “Able” Battery, 3-321st Field Artillery Regiment (FAR) from the 18th Field Artillery Brigade (FAB) lights up the night sky on Fort Campbell, Ky. (US Army)
WASHINGTON — Estonia is weighing a second Lockheed Martin M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) order and has opened talks with other competitors to assess alternative platform options, according to the Baltic nation’s top weapons procurement official.
“We are expecting [HIMARS] deliveries next year, and we plan a follow on order,” Magnus Saar, Estonia’s national armaments director, told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the AUSA trade show last week.
“Lately, our government decided to invest an additional €1.6 billion ($1.7 billion) to increase strategic sustainability….a huge part of it” will be spent on HIMARS, he noted, before stressing that any new deal is dependent on delivery lead times and pricing from the US government.
Speaking on background, a US State Department official told Breaking Defense that “As a matter of policy, we do not publicly confirm or comment on proposed arms transfer cases until they have been formally notified to Congress. We refer you to the Estonians to speak to their defense procurement plans.”
Lockheed Martin deferred questions to the US government.
Estonia signed for six HIMARS in a package worth over $200 million in 2020 and which covers several rocket types that can reach a range between 70km and 300km, communications systems, training and logistics.
First deliveries of the weapons system were scheduled to begin this year, but Saar’s reference to “next year,” highlights a delay — an issue that looks to have drawn concern ahead of placing a new order.
“If the delivery times were long, we may need to substitute HIMARS munitions for something else, that’s available faster,” he added. “We’re having those discussions here [in Washington] to establish a clear picture of if we would make an order and how fast we could get it.”
Talks with a number of non-US competitors have already taken place and include South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace pitching the K239 Chunmoo, Turkey’s Rocketsan offering Khan and Israel’s Elbit putting forward the Precise and Universal Launching System (PULS). And there may be more — Saar said he had “probably neglected to mention a few” other competitors.
Despite those conversations, the foundations for a follow on HIMARS acquisition appear to be relatively strong, even with the question mark over delivery times.
In January, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania signed a trilateral agreement, “which aims to create a framework for joint use” of HIMARS, according to a translated statement from Estonia’s Ministry of Defence.
Additionally, the US Army HIMARS unit in Estonia, Task Force Võit, frequently trains and collaborates with Estonian Defense Forces’ 1st Brigade and NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) Battle Group.
In a more general sense, Tallinn has ramped up defense spending in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion, reaching a figure above 3 percent GDP this year — outperforming the 2 percent NATO target.
The Baltic state plans on spending €3.5 billion on new “armaments” over the next five years, according to the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments long term spending plan [PDF].
Over the next two years alone it has committed to layouts of €200 million for 155mm wheeled self propelled howitzers, €200 million for French Mistral Man-Portable Air Defense Systems (MANPADS) and €200 million for new loitering munitions.
As it looks to build up multi-layered air defense capabilities, Tallinn is also set to receive deliveries of German made IRIS-T SLM medium range ground-based air defense systems next year.
“NATO has taken steps to enhance air defense and improve situational awareness,” Hanno Pevkur, Estonia’s Defence Minister said at the NATO Defence Ministers’ Meeting in Brussels on 18 October. “The imminent reopening of our Ämari base and the presence of Spain’s NASAMS unit in Estonia are part of this air defense enhancement, which will soon be reinforced by our own IRIS-T systems.”
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