Poland gets US-made HIMARS, early Apaches in latest defense boost

WARSAW – Poland is readying to add its first batch of American-made HIMARS rocket launchers to its defense arsenal, days after the government also announced an arrangement to expedite a few Apache helicopters, as Warsaw continues to fortify its military in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Poland’s defense minister, Mariusz Blaszczak, received the HIMARS at an airport ceremony Monday, where he said the weapons system “has proven itself in combat in the hands of the Ukrainians stopping the Russian invasion.

“These systems will go to the northeastern part of our country, and [their] task will be to deter the aggressor, strengthen the Polish Armed Forces on the eastern flank of Poland and the eastern flank of the North Atlantic [Treaty Organization],” he said.

Though the HIMARS landed in Poland – carried by a Ukrainian heavy transport aircraft in an unmistakable symbol of unity with Kyiv — under the shadow of Russia’s invasion, they’re the product of a deal that the US approved back in 2018, when Warsaw agreed to procure 20 HIMARS multi-launcher M142 rocket launchers in the “US configuration,” along with a stockpile of Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) and Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) rockets, as well as practice ammunition along with command vehicles and technical protection vehicles. At the time, the cost of the deal was estimated at $655 million.

“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security of the United States by improving the security of a NATO ally which is an important force for political stability and economic progress in Europe,” the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency said at the time. “Poland intends to use these defense articles and services to modernize its armed forces and expand its capability to strengthen its homeland defense and deter regional threats.”

Poland’s Ministry of National Defense said that prior to the recent delivery of the Lockheed Martin-made HIMARS, other pieces of the procurement had taken place since last year without incident. The current delivery schedule assumes that all M142 launchers will be delivered by the end of this year and will equip the 1st Mazurska Artillery Brigade, subordinated to the 16th Mechanized Division whose task is to defend the regions of Warmia and Mazury in north Poland, as well as the Suwalki Gap. The gap is a sparsely populated area immediately southwest of the border with Lithuania, between Belarus and the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad Oblast. This choke point would be of great strategic value should the Russian invasion spill into Eastern Europe.

With HIMARS in hand, Poland plans to establish a “HIMARS Academy” in order to train its troops on the system, similar to the Abrams Academy that opened in August 2022.

This HIMARS deal is hardly the last, after the US State Department approved a monster $10 billion HIMARS deal in February this year. Blaszczak said Warsaw is already “negotiating” through that one, which he hopes will include some domestic co-production of launchers and missiles. The Armaments Agency of the Poland’s Ministry of National Defense is expected to invite Lockheed to negotiate a Framework Agreement for the Homar-A program, under which Lockheed with Polish industry will integrate key components of the HIMARS rocket launcher on a Jelcz 6×6 truck.

Meanwhile, Some Apaches Come Early

The HIMARS ceremony came days after Blaszczak announced another procurement from the US, this one in the form of Apache helicopters meant to serve as a “gap-filler” birds for training before it officially receives the first of 96 Apaches requested last September. The cost of that potential deal hasn’t been disclosed.

After meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin in Warsaw on May 5, Blaszczak said the eight helicopters will allow Polish pilots and technicians to start training “as soon as possible.”

The larger fleet of Apaches is eventually expected to be fielded by the 18th Mechanized Division, which is equipped with American-made Abrams tanks.

The meeting with Austin also produced a “reciprocity” agreement for defense procurement between the US and Poland, billed to strengthen cooperation in military-technical matters. Blaszczak said the agreement was an “opportunity” for Polish industry and noted that already workers in Poland help build the fuselage for F-16s out of a Lockheed facility in southern Poland, as well as the domestic production of launchers for the US-made Patriot missile defense system.

“So this is a very good signal for the Polish defense industry,” Blaszczak said.

The dueling announcements come as Poland continues a blitz of defense spending, with the US and South Korea among its largest suppliers. It’s a spending spree about which Polish officials have been unusually blunt.

“We just took our suitcases with money and [are] going like hell around the world and trying to buy,” Gen. Rajmund Andrzejczak, chief of staff of the Polish armed forces, said in an exclusive interview with Breaking Defense in December. “We know the strategic objective is [to] support Ukraine. This is the strategic objective of [the] state, that was my main mission given. But [due to] the consequences and risks we took, some stores are empty.”