© Reuters. A HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) missile launcher climbs a 60-degree ramp on a test track at Lockheed Martin Camden Operations in Camden, Arkansas, U.S., February 27, 2023. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
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by mike stone
CAMDEN, Ark. (Reuters) – Lockheed-Martin The (NYSE:) Mobile Rocket Launcher plant in Camden, Arkansas, is preparing to boost production of the HIMARS system after its battlefield success in Ukraine spurred demand from other nations, executives said Monday.
The High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) is now a widely recognized weapon after mobile phone camera footage from the war in Ukraine showed the launchers in action.
“When you have a combat-proven system that’s out there and in the news, every day, it drives that demand,” said Jennifer McManus, vice president of operations for Lockheed’s missile business.
Lockheed Martin builds HIMARS and restores an earlier version in Camden, a small town southwest of Little Rock.
Thanks to some investments made over the past year in the 282,000-square-foot building where the ground vehicles are manufactured, Lockheed only needs a few upgrades to meet that higher production rate, Lockheed executives said.
The list includes a paint booth, anti-slip coating mixer, tire mounting manipulator arm and axle installation track, executives told Reuters.
In an earnings call with investors, the Lockheed CEO said: “Specifically on HIMARS, we have already met with our leading supply chain to plan to increase production to 96 of these units a year.” Lockheed started 2022 with a HIMARS launcher production rate of 48, but has since increased to 60.
The HIMARS launcher had been gaining popularity even before its success in the Ukraine.
Poland received authorization in February to purchase 18 HIMARS launchers and 468 launcher magazine kits that can be fitted to Polish-made trucks to convert them into similar launch pads. Talks for that deal began in 2017, a Lockheed spokesman told Reuters.