(Staff article from the AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE MAGAZINE on 04 October 2022.)
Australia is set to acquire HIMARS, maybe 20
launchers, though the government has yet to give the official go-ahead. With
the growing desire for greater self-sufficiency, Australia may also seek to
manufacture HIMARS missiles.
James Heading, Lockheed Martin Australia director of programs, strategic capabilities office for missiles and fire control, said there was active consideration around production of the missiles themselves, though not the launch vehicle.
“We are certainly trying to explore what Australian actually wants. Part of that resilience in the supply chain obviously goes straight to energetics,” he told reporters at the 2022 Land Forces Conference in Brisbane. “The hardest thing to ship in any conflict are the energetics. We want to look at the rocket motors and the warheads. We already have the teaming agreement with Lockheed Martin and Thales.”
Heading said work was already under way on the rocket booster for the LRASM long range anti-ship missile. “It’s all well and good to talk about rocket motors but what about the casings and the fins and the body and all sort of things. We are exploring to see what the capabilities and capacities are here in Australia.” Heading said Australia was more than capable of producing the critical guidance system but that would depend on what technology the US government would allow to be released.
Early in the
program, the Australian military discussed placing the rocket launcher aboard
an in-service Australian vehicle rather than a US FMTV truck. For reasons of
cost, delivery time and integration risk, it was decided to stick with the US
vehicle.
HIMARS is a
wheeled vehicle with capability to carry and launch six GMLRS missiles, each
with a range of 70 kilometres, or two PRSM missiles with a range of up to 499
kilometres or a single ATACMS missile with a range of 300 kilometres.
HIMARS High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
The High
Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) provides artillery forces with
precision fire power, enhanced responsiveness, mobility, protection, and also
networks soldiers and air and land weapon platforms, thus facilitating the
delivery of information, and fires in the battlefield.
The key features
of the HIMARS are:
Enhanced Fire Power:
The HIMARS carries a single pod of six Multiple Launch Rocket Systems (MLRS) rockets and is designed to launch the entire MLRS family of munitions. The Guided MLRS M31 Unitary rockets used are 227mm surface-to-surface inertial guided and Global Positioning System-aided weapons. Each rocket contains a single 200-pound class controlled fragmentation high explosive unitary warhead capable of providing lethal and precise fires. The HIMARS is able to strike targets as far as 70 km away.Enhanced Responsiveness:
The HIMARS requires less than 20 seconds to be prepared for firing and a full launcher load of six rockets can be fired within 45 seconds.Enhanced Mobility:
The HIMARS is powered by a 6.6-litre, six-cylinder turbo-charge diesel engine that delivers 330 horsepower, providing a top speed of 94km/h. This allows for rapid withdrawal after launching of munitions, enhancing crew and equipment survivability.Enhanced Protection:
The HIMARS is equipped with the Increased Crew Protection cabin, which is designed to protect the three-man operating crew against plume gases, rocket launch debris and small arms.Enhanced Networking Capabilities:
The HIMARS is equipped with the Battlefield Management System (BMS) which enables it to connect with the Artillery Headquarters and Strike Observer Mission Teams on the ground as well as other air and land platforms, such as infantry fighting vehicles, main battle tanks, attack helicopters and fighter aircraft. With enhanced situational awareness and transmission of key battlefield information provided by the BMS, the HIMARS can respond quickly to call-for-fires and deliver precision fires on enemy targets.
U.S. HIMARS Rockets in Ukraine
On New Year’s
Day, Ukraine used American-made rockets to kill dozens—and possibly hundreds—of
Russian soldiers within its borders.
Russian officials said the strike resulted in the
deaths of 63 service members, while Ukrainian officials suggest the casualties
are in the hundreds- nearly 400. It marks one of Ukraine’s deadliest attacks on
Russian forces in the war. Officials from both countries say that HIMARS
rockets, which are satellite-guided weapons with a range of about 50 miles,
were used in the attack.
The U.S. first
provided Ukraine with long-range HIMARS rockets back in June; they offered
roughly twice the range of the weaponry that Kyiv were previously using. Here’s
what to know about HIMARS rockets, and why they have become essential for
Ukraine’s war operations.
What are HIMARS rockets?
HIMARS, produced
by Lockheed Martin, stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
“HIMARS is one
of the world’s most advanced rocket artillery systems; its range is farther
than anything the Ukrainians had, so when that was transferred they did get the
ability to strike targets deeper behind the front-lines and much more
accurately,” says Ian Williams, deputy director of CSIS’s Missile Defense
Project.
They are considered most effective for attacking stationary targets such as infrastructure and troops in a concentrated area. HIMARS rockets have been integral for Ukraine in a defensive and offensive capacity in the war against Russia, experts say. “HIMARS have liberated strategically significant Ukrainian cities and territory that likely otherwise wouldn’t have happened… It’s a glowing report card,” says George Barros, an analyst on the Russia and Ukraine portfolio at the Institute for the Study of War.
How has Ukraine used HIMARS rockets against Russia?
HIMARS rockets
have been particularly effective in fighting Russia’s offensive in Donbas by
allowing Ukraine to attack Russian supply and ammunition depots.
They were also
crucial in forcing Russia to withdraw from Kherson. “That was only possible
because the Ukrainians had this extended strike capability to degrade those
bridges. Without the HIMARS, I don’t think the Ukrainians would have liberated
Kherson,” Barros says.
Until the New
Year’s Day attack, HIMARS rockets had mostly been used to target Russian
infrastructure. “What’s different about the recent strike is that they hit an
area where there happened to be a lot of Russian military personnel, so there
was a very high casualty count,” Williams says. “What we’ve seen until now is
HIMARS being used to target Russian logistics and weapon and artillery
stockpiles.”
The U.S. role in supplying HIMARS to Ukraine
The U.S. has
supplied at least 20 HIMARS rockets to Ukraine. Their announcement to provide
the weapons in June was part of a larger $700 million military aid package.
U.S. officials
say that there are certain restrictions placed on the HIMARS rockets provided
to Ukraine. They can’t fire ATACMS missiles, which have a range of almost 200
miles. The U.S. also sought Ukrainian assurances that HIMARS would not be fired
into Russian territory.
Analysts say
these kinds of restrictions are the U.S.’ way of preventing their support for
Ukraine from growing into a larger conflict between the U.S. and Russia.
Some call for the U.S. to continue to limit the
kinds of weapons provided to Ukraine. “The United States should avoid
encouraging or facilitating a Ukrainian effort to fully expel Russian forces
from all of its territory, including Crimea, a war aim that would run too high
a risk of prompting [Russian President Vladimir] Putin to undertake even more
reckless actions, including the possible use of nuclear weapons,” said Charles
Kupchan, the top National Security Council official for Europe during the Obama
administration, according to the Wall Street Journal.
But Williams
says the idea that U.S. weapons used to strike targets inside of Russia, as
opposed to homegrown systems, could be seen as more escalatory is flawed. “I
don’t think that’s the case personally but that seems to be a line that the
[Biden] administration has drawn,” he says.
As the war
continues, Ukraine’s access to effective weaponry will be key in shaping their
response to Russian aggression. Even with the HIMARS, they are requesting
Western allies to also provide them with tanks; the U.S. has refused.
Barros worries
that restrictions on weapons may hamstring Ukraine’s efforts to fight back
effectively. “We’re not going to get into World War III with Russia by sending
Ukrainian weapons [and]… sending them longer range artillery,” he says.
Hundreds of Russian Recruits Killed by HIMARS on NYE
In a strike at
the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve, between 60 and 400 Russian conscript
troops were killed in an attack on a makeshift barracks inside Ukraine by
missiles launched from the HIMARS weapons system.
The attack,
using US-provided weapons and likely based on US-provided targeting data, sends
the world a message: Washington wants the bloodbath in Eastern Europe to
escalate in the new year. In the day since the attack, the magnitude of the
disaster has become clear amid recriminations within the Russian political and
media establishment over who was to blame for the debacle.
The Russian Ministry of Defense claimed that 63 service
members were killed in the strike, while the Ukrainian Ministry of defense
claimed that four hundred were killed. Some Russian journalists reported that
the casualties ranged between 200 and 600 people.
Whatever the
true number, it may be the deadliest single airstrike to date in the war, which
has already killed or injured 200,000 residents of the two countries that both
were part of the Soviet Union only 30 years ago.