The US Army V Corps has showcased the advantages of the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) interoperability with allied partners in Torun, Poland.
The European Rocket Artillery Summit was introduced as part of an interoperability initiative to “build alliance lethality” with European partner nations who own or plan to invest in the HIMARS weapon system.
Overcoming Challenges
During the summit, organizational, training, doctrinal, and logistical concepts about the HIMARS were discussed with military personnel, key leaders, and technical specialists.
Subject matter experts led the event and spoke about employing long-range rocket artillery for large-scale combat.
The conference also addressed achieving increased accuracy and effective targeting through precision technology, operational processes, system management, and other integrations.
“Building lethality and expanded combat capability with NATO allies and partners is a critical requirement for V Corps,” General and Summit Host Lt. Gen. John Kolasheski explained.
“HIMARS and other rocket artillery systems help us achieve this. So, we’re trying to push through the friction and challenges that diminish our interoperability, integration and ability to achieve these outcomes.”
“The European HIMARS initiative provides forums — starting with this summit — to gather and work through those challenges.”
A ‘Critical’ Collaboration
According to the US Army, the summit promotes “very fruitful discussions” on HIMARS perspectives, coordinating shared goals and enhancing relationships between US defense, allies, and NATO partners.
“This event is critical. It marks a new way of thinking, how we create a shared mental picture. We are very close from a mental and a human point of view,” Polish Territorial Defence Forces Lt. Gen. Wieslaw Kukula stated.
“And what makes that possible is interoperability — 31 nations coming together, able to communicate, whether it be using artillery systems, command and control systems, intelligence, logistics, whatever the system is,” US Army 41st Field Artillery Brigade Commander Col. Wil Hsu said.
“If we’re able to communicate together, work together, then we can fight together, and most importantly, have the ability to win.”
HIMARS Mentorship
An apprenticeship program will follow the summit to train allied troops on the HIMARS rocket launcher platform.
“We take their officers and noncommissioned officers and embed them into our HIMARS or MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) battalions, where they get an opportunity to learn what it takes to effectively man, train, maintain and sustain the system,” Kolasheski said.
