ÄRNA AIR BASE, Sweden — Sweden today announced it has signed a SEK 7 billion ($732 million) deal to procure the Lockheed Martin’s M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), as part of an ongoing overhaul of NATO’s newest member’s long-range strike options.
The announcement came in front of a US Army HIMARS launcher that had been transported from an undisclosed location in Europe to the hangar here at the air base just outside Uppsala, and was made alongside officials from Finland, Sweden’s close neighbor which will play a role in helping Sweden bring the capability online.
The acquisition comprises “just over” ten launchers together with a “substantial quantity” of ammunition, Defense Minister Pål Jonson said to the reporters in the hangar, without being more specific. The first deliveries of launchers and ammunition are set for 2027, as part of a deal the defense chiefs said. This is the first contract of a deal the the American Government approved in March
Jonson said that the system will also enable “future use” of the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM), with a range of up to 500 kilometres, “capable of striking high-value targets in depth.”
“The long-range precision capability that you get with HIMARS is something we [the Army] don’t have in our toolbox at the moment. We have it in the Air Force, but we also need it in the Army,” the head of the Swedish Army, Maj. Gen. Johan Pekkari, told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the press briefing.
