Croatia’s Parliamentary Defense Committee in today’s session unanimously supported the purchase of eight HIMARS missile systems, worth nearly 290 million dollars.
“With HIMARS, the Armed Forces are getting a new capability that they didn’t have before. It is about the capabilities of accurate and effective strikes with long-range missiles,” said Tihomir Kundid, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces.
“It undoubtedly represents a quantum leap in the framework of the ability of the Croatian armed forces in the implementation of precision and long-range missile strikes, it represents a new era in artillery missile units, as a system it is the most precise and effective in comparison with other systems”, he noted, he writes index.hr.
Croatian Defense Minister Ivan Anušić explained that the package includes eight HIMARS launchers and 394 missiles, as well as other goods, services, training and logistical support necessary for the effective operation of the system. The system will be delivered in 2028 and the missiles will come with it, the minister said.
HIMARS is an extremely mobile artillery system. The system, developed in the late 1990s, includes a truck, a control system and a missile. It was created as a more modern, lighter and more maneuverable version of the M270 MLRS guided missile system.
HIMARS can have a preloaded capsule with six 227 mm guided missiles. or a large capsule loaded with the ATACMS tactical missile that has a range of 300 kilometers. A small team of three can remove the used capsule and load a new one in minutes, without the help of other tools.
The acquisition of such a system will change the balance in the region, where no one has HIMARS. In Europe, according to available information, only Poland, Romania and Ukraine have it, while Italy, Latvia and Estonia are in the process of equipping it.
HIMARS is expected to significantly increase the firepower of the Croatian ground forces and will be a powerful deterrent tool. /Telegraph/