Lockheed Martin Awarded New Production Contract For HIMARS, Canada Included.
Noah Note
To cap off one last thing today, on top of everything else, we finally have some uodste on Canada’s HIMARS saga. The U.S. Department of Defense has officially published a $1.13 billion contract for the next major production lot of M142 HIMARS, officially cementing Canada’s place in the production pipeline.
Awarded to Lockheed Martin, the undefinitized contract covers Full Rate Production Lot 17. It also includes Australia, Estonia, Sweden and Taiwan. Credit to my buddy Colby Badwhar who has taken thr mandate of keeping track of all these for everyone.
For those who need a refresher, Canada officially received approval to move on contracting HIMARS back in October. That initial package, valued at $1.75 billion included:
26 x M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems
132 × M31A2 GMLRS Unitary pods - with Insensitive Munitions Propulsion System (IMPS).
132 × M30A2 GMLRS Alternative Warhead (AW) pods - with IMPS.
32 x M403 Extended Range (ER) GMLRS AW pods - with IMPS.
32 × M404 ER GMLRS Unitary pods - with IMPS.
64 × M57 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) pods
The contract also included various support and training services including, but not limited to Low Cost Reduced Range Practice Rocket pods, Integration support services, Spare parts, Tool kits, Training (and training equipment), and Type-1 radios (AN/PRC-160 and AN/PRC- 167)
It has been a long road to this point. Canada has been trying to get in on HIMARS for several years now, having determined it the only platform that met both Canada’s mobility and timeline requirements. That is the need to be C-130 transportable.
You can read all about that here, where I go into it in details. Delivery will start in 2029, ahead of the 2031/2032 timeline set out by LRPF(L), though truthfully almost any platform would have likely been early admittedly.
Not included yet is PRSM, which will be included in a future munitions package. Consider this the cap of today I guess, especially funny after Hanwha’s Chunmoo production announcement today and their missile announcement yesterday. Both of which tie back a lovely little loop here.
Anywho, I am very tired so I won't go to far inti things. However I did want to highlight this moment for everyone, as it is important. This officially sets Canada on the road to having a dedicated, land-based Long-Range Strike capability back for thr first time since the 60s.
What a fun way to cap such a fun day!
How does Canada get a place in the production line when the Canadian government hasn't awarded a contract yet? The last official thing we saw was the US State Department FMS approval.