(Photo: JUNI KRISWANTO/AFP via Getty Images) Members of the US army launch the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) during the Super Garuda Shield 2023 joint military exercise with Indonesia, Japan, Singapore, Australia, and the US in Situbondo, East Java on September 11, 2023. Poland’s defense ministry has announced it would order 486 more HIMARS rocket launchers as it continues to beef up its defense capabilities as a deterrent to Russia and Belarus.

Poland has announced it has ordered almost 500 US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) vehicles, similar to those used by neighboring Ukraine in its effort to stop the Russian advance in the country in its tracks.

"I have approved a framework agreement for the delivery of 486 HIMARS rocket launchers under the HOMAR-A program for the Polish Army," Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Błaszczak was quoted Monday (September 11) by Polish broadcaster TVP.

Błaszczak emphasized the order would significantly increase the country's rocket artillery firepower after it earlier received 18 of the launchers back in 2019, which comprised a single squadron.

The additional HIMARS launchers would increase its rocket batteries to 28, a number he reckoned would be needed to deter an aggressor, which he has not named but has been speculated by many as Russia and Belarus.

The first deliveries of the new HIMARS launchers should be made by the end of 2025 or early 2026.

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Local Integration Beyond Acquisition Needed, Błaszczak Says

Błaszczak added that the challenge upon receiving the launchers was to adapt and integrate them with indigenous Polish systems - particularly the domestic company Jelcz-manufactured TOPAZ combat management system - which he assured the Polish arms industry would be able to complete within two years.

In a press release Monday, the Polish Armament Agency said that, in order to implement the HOMAR-A program, individual executive agreements will be signed both with US partners, including for the supply of ammunition, as well as with Polish partners for the supply of command, technical security, ammunition, and technical evacuation vehicles.

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