WASHINGTON — Poland wants to buy a Lockheed Martin-made rocket launcher, and the U.S. State Department has cleared the possible $250 million sale, according to a Defense Security Cooperation Agency announcement.
The department notified Congress on Tuesday that it had approved the potential foreign military sale for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, along with a variety of munitions for the system. The deal is now pending congressional approval.
Poland has asked for 16 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) M31A1 Unitary, nine GMLRS M30A1 alternative warheads, and 61 Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS) M57 Unitary.
Also included in the sale are eight universal position navigation units, 34 low-cost reduced-range practice rockets, and 1,642 guidance and control section assemblies for GMLRS along with other test sets, devices and GPS receivers.
The U.S. government and contractors will provide training and other logistics and program support, according to the agency announcement.
The Foreign Military Sales deal will support a parallel, direct commercial sale between Lockheed and PGZ, Poland’s state-run defense group, which is the prime contractor in Poland.
Lockheed announced more than a year ago that it was restarting its HIMARS production line in order to build new launchers for the United Arab Emirates, but the comapny has seen business in Europe since then, particularly in Romania.
[Lockheed Revives Rocket Launcher Production]
The U.S. State Department cleared a $1.25 billion HIMARS sale to Romania in August. The country plans to buy 54 HIMARS, 81 unitary GMLRSs, 81 alternative warhead GMLRSs and 54 ATACMSs.
[State Dept. clears $1.25 billion HIMARS sale to Romania]
The U.S. Army this summer brought HIMARS to its largest military exercise in Europe — Saber Guardian — where it participated in a combined-arms, live-fire exercise in the Romanian countryside.
[Multinational live-fire exercise lights up Romanian countryside in show of force]
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She has also worked for Politico and Inside Defense. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College.
