Polish Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak launched a rocket artillery brigade last week featuring High-Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS).
The 1st Rocket Brigade will be stationed in the north-central city of Torun and the northeastern town of Orzysz, 120 kilometers (74 miles) from the Belarus border.
Poland disbanded its last rocket artillery unit in 2005, which featured Soviet-era Tochka rockets with a range of 70 kilometers (43 miles), less than one-fourth of the US-made HIMARS.
HIMARS Academy
Blaszczak also announced the establishment of a HIMARS Academy to provide training and logistics support for the Lockheed Martin system.
“Today we established the Himars Academy, modeled on the Abrams Academy,” he said on Thursday.
“I am also confident that together with our American partners we will train more HIMARS crews so that both those that are already in our country — those HIMARS — and those that will be equipped with the Polish Army will be operated by soldiers trained at the highest level.”
Polish HIMARS Force
Poland bought 20 HIMARS launchers from the US for $414 million in 2019, receiving the first batch of five launchers in May.
In June, Blaszczak said that the country had sent a request to the US to acquire 500 more HIMARS launchers to support its military modernization effort.
Poland is seeking joint production of HIMARS launchers and rockets after receiving approval for the sale from the US Congress.
