OXFORD, England–The Defense Department last week started using its High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) to help beat back ISIL combatants in Syria, Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Wednesday.
Carter, in a speech here at the University of Oxford, said the United States had previously used air strikes and surveillance to support Turkey and vetted Syrian opposion forces to clear the remaining stretch of the Syrian side of Turkey’s border from ISIL. Carter vowed that the U.S. is willing to do more to help Turkey, including on the ground in Syria, to cut off ISIL lines to, and from, Europe.
Photo: Lockheed Martin.
Developed by Lockheed Martin [LMT], HIMARS is a lightweight mobile launcher, transportable by C-130 and larger aircraft, that fires guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) rockets and Army Tactical Missile System (TACMS) munitions. HIMARS consists of a launcher loader module and fire-control system mounted on a standard five-ton truck chassis. A specialized armored cab provides additional protection to the three soldiers or Marines who operate the system. HIMARS is capable of deploying MLRS rockets or one ATACMS missile 300 km.
HIMARS was among a handful of capabilities recently deployed to the region along with attack and bomber aircraft, command and control systems and attack helicopters. Carter in late July promised the 18th Airborne Corps and its commander, Army Lt. Gen. Steve Townsend, a blank check to order resources needed for the hasty defeat of the so-called Islamic State (Defense Daily, July 27).
HIMARS was initially fielded in 2005 and, since then, 14 additional launcher battalions have been fielded with the Army and active and National Guard units. The Marine Corps received its first HIMARS launchers in 2007.