Estonia wants answers from US on HIMARS production, could turn to other options in ‘months’
Dmytro Kuleba, the former Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, interrupted Breaking Defense’s interview with Estonian defense minister Hanno Pevkur to praise Estonia for its willingness to donate weapons to Kyiv’s aid.
US Army soldiers from Able Battery, 3rd Battalion, 321st Field Artillery Regiment, 18th Field Artillery Brigade, launch rockets from HIMARS during a semiannual validation exercise (US Army)
MUNICH — Estonia could scrap a plan for a second buy of Lockheed Martin-made M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) if the US government cannot assuage its concerns about lead times and production slots, with a decision likely in the coming months, the Baltic state’s defense minister tells Breaking Defense.
“I would like to speak” with the US government to ask, “are they ready to speed up the production, or are they ready to give us earlier [production] slots because the information we’ve gathered today clearly shows that delivery time is very long and we don’t have so much time,” Hanno Pevkur said in a Friday interview on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference.
Primarily designed to strike fixed targets, HIMARS have proven to be formidable assets for Ukraine and are credited with success against Russian supply lines, ammunition depots and command and control centers. The US has suppled “more than 40” HIMARS to Ukraine, according to a State Department factsheet.
Breaking Defense initially reported on the prospect of a second HIMARS order in October, when another Estonian official disclosed issues linked with delivery lead times and pricing.
Dependent on how Washington responds to Estonia’s questions, Tallinn will either go ahead with a second tranche of HIMARS or change course and potentially opt for an alternative. A decision will be made on the preferred platform in a “couple of months,” said Pevkur.
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Rocketsan’s Khan, from Turkey, and the Elbit Precise and Universal Launching System (PULS), out of Israel, are known to be in the running, but in his discussion with Breaking Defense, Pevkur only mentioned South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace-made K239 Chunmoo. Poland is already a customer for the Chunmoo, and it is also under consideration with Norway, while Hanwha is also providing Estonia with 36 K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers.
Hanwha “is one of the competitors” involved in the impending artillery equipment decision, Pevkur said, adding that he met with South Korea’s acting defense minister Kim Seon-ho and Hanwha Aerospace officials last month.
Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to questions on HIMARS production.
“As a matter of policy, we are unable to comment on or confirm potential or pending arms transfers before they are formally notified to Congress,” said a US State Department official on background.
HIMARS And Ukraine
Estonia has needed to invest in long-range fires in part because the country has made major donations of its own equipment to support Ukraine — something Dmytro Kuleba, the former Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, made clear by interrupting Breaking Defense’s interview with Pevkur.
After making sure Pevkur was talking to a reporter, Kuleba said he wanted to underline publicly how much Estonia’s support means to Kyiv.
“Ukrainians appreciate Estonia probably more than anyone else because they gave all the artillery that they had to us… and never complained, [or said] ‘how are we going to survive without howitzers’ like some other much more powerful nations did,” Kuleba said.
To help fill the gap left by those donations, Tallinn has made key progress on a first order of six HIMARS units, a package worth over $200 million that includes several rocket types that can reach a range between 70km and 300km, communications systems, training and logistics.
“Officially, we’ve got the keys,” said Pevkur, in recognition of a HIMARS handover ceremony that took place at Lockheed Martin’s headquarters in Camden, Arkansas last month.
The first six systems “are somewhere, probably in the Atlantic Ocean at the moment, but they will be delivered very soon,” he added.
On other future procurements, Pevkur noted that there is “still some time” to decide on a XA-180 armored personnel carrier replacement acquisition.
