WARSAW, Poland — Poland has acquired its first cargo of U.S.-made HIMARS rocket launchers as a part of a protection improve amid safety issues because of the battle in neighboring Ukraine.
Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak and navy officers attended an acquisition ceremony at a Warsaw air base on Monday.
Blaszczak mentioned that fight in Ukraine had confirmed the worth of the HIMARS and that NATO member Poland was looking for to obtain further launchers, with a objective of buying some 500 models.
“We are watching the developments in Ukraine, and we know that artillery has a key role in the war, in repelling the Russian invasion,” he mentioned.
Under a 2019 contract, Poland is spending some $414 million (380 million euros) to purchase 18 superior fight HIMARS launchers and two HIMARS coaching launchers, with ammunition and associated tools. The deal consists of logistics and coaching.
The launchers will go to the first Artillery Brigade in northeastern Poland, Blaszczak mentioned.
“Their task will be to deter (an) aggressor and strengthen Poland’s armed forces on the nation’s and NATO eastern flank,” the minister mentioned.
A HIMARS academy is to be launched within the metropolis of Torun to supply logistics, servicing and coaching, together with for troops from different NATO nations which have or plan to get the launchers.
Produced by American aerospace firm Lockheed Martin, the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System is a a number of rocket launcher with a variety of as much as some 300 kilometers (190 miles) developed within the late Nineties for the U.S. armed forces.
Poland is shopping for billions of {dollars}’ value of weapons, mainly from the U.S. and South Korea, together with fighter jets, to modernize its armed forces.
Some of the tools will change weapons – together with over a dozen Soviet-made MiG-29 jet fighters – that Poland agreed to provide Ukraine for its protection towards Russia.
Poland’s right-wing authorities, which will likely be looking for a 3rd time period in a fall parliamentary election, is giving the purchases vast publicity, looking for to reassure Poles amid a navy battle throughout their jap border.
Last yr, Poland acquired quite a few U.S. Patriot missile programs, and deliveries of one other battery are anticipated this yr. The first deliveries of Abrams tanks have additionally arrived from the U.S., in addition to deliveries of tanks and howitzers from South Korea.
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