Estonia has formally received six new High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from US defense firm Lockheed Martin at the company’s Arkansas headquarters.

It follows a $200-million contract signed in December 2022 between the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency and the Estonian Defence Investment Center (RKIK), considered one of Tallinn’s largest defense purchases.

The deal also includes ammunition, communications solutions, training, logistics, life cycle solutions, and missiles with different ranges.

Once the systems enter service this summer, they can be immediately deployed as troops have already undergone pre-delivery training in cooperation with the American HIMARS target unit “Võit” based in Estonia.

“Developing such a strategic capability in cooperation with our largest ally, the United States, and achieving delivery in just two years is a vivid example of mutual trust and excellent cooperation,” said RKIK Director General Magnus-Valdemar Saar.

In response to regional security tensions amid the Russia-Ukraine war, other countries such as Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Croatia have also purchased the HIMARS.

Combat Proven

Lockheed’s HIMARS is a mobile artillery platform capable of carrying a six-pack of GMLRS rockets, two precision strike missiles, or one ATACMS missile.

It can engage targets up to 300 kilometers (186 miles) away and at an extended range beyond 499 kilometers (310 miles) depending on the munition, and scoot away quickly to avoid enemy counterattacks.

Ukraine used the US-made platform to destroy 50 Russian ammo depots in 2022, but a May report last year said that Moscow’s jamming rendered the rocket system “ineffective.”