Queensland, Australia. (August 2, 2022): In this photo by Lance Corporal Alyssa Chuluda, a U.S. Army High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) with Alpha Battery, 1st Battalion, 94th Field Artillery Regiment, 12th Field Artillery Brigade and a United States Marine Corps HIMARS with 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marines, fire rockets during Exercise Talisman Sabre on Shoalwater Bay Training Area in Queensland, Australia. These Army and Marine sister units jointly train on the deadly HIMARS system that is turning the tide in Ukraine.

Queensland, Australia. (August 2, 2022): Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines Terror as “ a state of intense, overwhelming fear”, which is probably an accurate description of Russia’s soldiers in Ukraine right now.  The Russians are getting to know HIMARS, an acronym they won’t soon forget.

The U.S. Army’s High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) has arrived in numbers on the battlefields of Ukraine to devastating effect on the invaders. In a recent article in Newsweek, author Jason Lemon describes HIMARS as a ‘game changer” in the Ukraine War quoting retired U.S. Army General Mark Hertling, the former Commander for U.S. Army Europe and 7th Army, as saying HIMARS delivers “greater range, precision accuracy with fewer rounds” than anything on the battlefield.

America has delivered upwards of 16 HIMARS units so far and intelligence experts say the Ukrainians have used them to successfully target enemy airfields, ammunition dumps, and command headquarters deep into Russian occupied territory. In fact, HIMARS is so effective that the Russian Army has lost 14 Generals in Ukraine, an unheard loss of senior officers not seen since World War II. 

So, what is this HIMARS, and what makes it so effective in this conflict?

HIMARS is a mobile launch pad, mounted on a 5-ton truck, containing either six Guided MLRS Rockets or one Army Tactical Missile System with a crew of four.  Each MLRS rocket is a guided munition programmed to “shoot” a specific target up to 50 miles away.  Once launched, the rockets use GPS guided navigation to find their target allowing the HIMARS crew to “scoot” immediately after firing. This “fire and forget” capability means the crew escapes before an adversary can retaliate. As of this writing, no HIMARS teams have been confirmed destroyed in Ukraine far.  

A second HIMARS option is a 12-foot short range ballistic missile capable of delivering a 350-pound payload over 180 miles and striking within ten feet of its target. Such accuracy minimizes civilian casualties while using less rounds than conventional artillery. 

For an outnumbered Ukrainian Army, these advanced American systems are an equalizer against massive Russian fire power. Kudos to the American servicemembers whose efforts keep freedom in the fight.

As thousands of our troops deploy to Eastern Europe, we must remember their sacrifices and those of their families are making to keep America safe. 

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