Trumpeter 01041 M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS)

The M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) is a modern American circular ground-to-ground missile system. The system has a maximum range of 300 km, with a minimum range of 2 km. The mobile platform with rockets has a curb weight of 10,900 kilograms, with a length of 7 meters and a width of 2.4 meters. The cost of a single HIMARS launcher is $ 5.1 million. 2014 prices.

The M142 HIMARS was developed for the needs of the US armed forces by BAE Systems and Lockheed Martin. When creating the new system, the focus was on the greatest possible mobility, high maximum speed of the wheeled platform and the possibility of air transport on the C-130 Hercules aircraft. In order to increase compatibility and shorten the research and development work as much as possible, it was decided to use a wheeled platform based on a truck from the M1078 FMTV family, while the missile launcher was borrowed from the M270 MLRS. It is worth adding that while MLRS has two containers with 6 launchers each, HIMARS uses one container - also with 6 launchers. The first field tests of the M142 began in 1998, with an order for the first production batch placed in 2002. Launchers of this type were used during the Syrian civil war that started in 2011 and in operations in Iraq starting in 2014.