HALIFAX, Nova Scotia — Despite delivery delays, Estonia still wants to buy six additional M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) from the US, and possibly more, according to Minister of Defence Hanno Pevkur.

“We have the money, we have the delivery on our list,” Pevkur told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the Halifax International Security Forum today.

“We’ve been in contact with” prime contractor Lockheed Martin, who “said that they are basically producing it, but they need to have the approval from the Pentagon for the FMS [Foreign Military Sale],” he added.

If all goes as planned, Estonia could begin receiving its second tranche of US launchers in the 2028 to 2029 timeframe.

The details about Estonia’s HIMARS acquisition plans come after a year of question marks over whether it would move forward with a second tranche of the long-range precision strike launchers.

Tallinn first signed an agreement for a half a dozen HIMARS in 2022 worth $200 million, with those launchers delivered earlier this year. The Baltic country had been planning on a second order, but earlier this year Pevkur warned that plan may be scrapped if the US government cannot assuage its concerns about lead times and production slots. 

Then in late October, Tallinn announced it had inked a deal to purchase K239 Chunmoo rocket launchers from South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace. While the announcement about the Chunmoo pledged that HIMARS was still on the table, details have been scant to this point.

As the war between Ukraine and Russia wages on, Estonia has been looking for ways to shore up its air defense capabilities and its portfolio of deep strike weapons. Part of that roadmap includes a four-year defense investment plan, complete with additional funding of €2.8 billion ($3.2 billion).

“The main focus is on air defense and deep strikes,” Pevkur said today. 

“This is why we are looking for additional systems for the deep strikes. It’s not only HIMARS and it’s not only Chunmoo,” he later added. “It’s also the cruise missiles. It’s loitering munitions. So different types of systems. What will give us more reach, because we don’t have the strategic depth.”