- Contractors are developing an artillery missile system for Europe that could rival HIMARS.
- The heavier EuroPULS could carry twice as many rockets.
- HIMARS may be falling victim to its popularity as Lockheed Martin tries to meet growing demand.
Europe is building a multiple rocket launcher that resembles America’s HIMARS, the ground-based weapon that has taken over precision strike missions that Ukraine’s battered air force has been unable to perform.
EuroPULSa truck-mounted multiple rocket launcher, is the result of a collaboration between the Franco-German defense company KNDS and the Israeli company Elbit Systems. It is based on Elbit’s Universal and Precise Launch System, or IMPULSESdeployed by the Israel Defense Forces and several European nations.
This raises the question of whether EuroPULS will be a competitor to HIMARS, or High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, a decades-old launcher that gained notoriety during the war in Ukraine. Comparing EuroPULS and HIMARS reveals platforms that are conceptually similar. EuroPULS is mounted on an eight-wheel truck chassis, while HIMARS uses a six-wheeled vehicle. A KNDS data sheet describes EuroPULS as 10 meters long and weighing 38 tons, with a maximum road speed of 88 km/h.
That makes it much heavier than the HIMARS, which has a combat weight of 18 tons. But a larger vehicle can carry more rockets. EuroPULS has two pods, which can fire 12 rockets in 60 seconds, depending on the ammunition. HIMARS has one pod that can fire six GMLRS rockets or one long-range ATACMS missile. The price of a EuroPULS system has not been disclosed. But a HIMARS launcher costs nearly $5 million each, according to the U.S. Army 2024 budget figures, while a GMLRS rocket costs more than $100,000 each.
European armies already have multiple launch rocket systems. Many, such as the French LRU and the German MARS 2, are based on American systems. M270a tracked mobile rocket launcher and its rockets with a guided multiple rocket launch system.
EuroPULS expands this ammunition menu. EuroPULS can fire a “mix of traditional European rockets and PULS,” according to KNDS. Elbit markets a variety of PULS pods. The pod selection includes 18 122mm Accular rockets with a range of 35km, 10 160mm Accular rockets with a range of 40km, four EXTRA rockets with an extended range of up to 150km, and two Predator Hawk weapons with a range of 300km. Different pods can be mounted on the same vehicle.
It is also worth noting that both KNDS and Elbit are touting EuroPULS’s ability to fire all kinds of rockets. KNDS claims the system is “adaptable to future missiles.” Elbit claims EuroPULS “will form the basis of a modular, scalable and flexible artillery system that can be integrated to fire from any mobility platform with extreme precision and safety. The open concept of EuroPULS does not exclude any respective missile suppliers from cooperation to enable EuroPULS users to use them.”
That suggests EuroPULS could fire the GMLRS rockets launched by HIMARS. Except HIMARS maker Lockheed Martin has said that’s not an option. “Our MLRS family of munitions cannot be integrated with the PULS system,” a Lockheed Martin executive said. Defense News“If Germany opted for PULS, it would not be able to access our missiles.”
It is unclear whether EuroPULS could compete with HIMARS. HIMARS has the immense advantage of its reputation in the war in Ukraine, where it proved crucial in helping to stop the Russian invasion in 2022. destroy Russian ammunition depots and headquarters, disrupting logistics and command and control, and causing Russian forces to move vital facilities further behind their lines. HIMARS and other GPS-guided weapons such as HIMARS have recently lost some of their luster, as massive Russian jamming of GPS signals has degraded the accuracy of guidance systems. But for now, multiple rocket launchers are popular items.
On the other hand, KNDS can use economic incentives as a carrot, or at least for European customers; Lockheed Martin produces its HIMARS guided rockets in factories in the United States. KNDS’s data sheet states that a “European production base for launchers and munitions is planned.”
HIMARS is in use or has been ordered by more than a dozen countries. But Elbit’s PULS has already found some success in Europe, with the Netherlands and Denmark having purchased it. Germany plans to buy five to replace the MARS 2 launchers sent to Ukraine, and possibly up to 89.
To some extent, HIMARS may be a victim of its popularity, with questions over Lockheed Martin’s ability to meet growing demand for launchers and rockets, although the company plans to increase its capabilities. production capacityUkraine, for example, has ordered new HIMARS launchers, and the U.S. Department of Defense is replacing launchers and missiles in its arsenal that it supplied to Ukraine.
“Demand for such military capabilities is likely to outstrip supply, given the limits on how quickly industrial production capacity can be ramped up and the need to supply systems to Ukraine,” James Black, deputy director for defense at the think tank RAND Europe, told Business Insider. “There are also industrial policy and security of supply issues at play, with many countries hoping to secure access to production lines and munitions in times of crisis or war, and many countries hoping to secure lucrative domestic or export contracts. Collectively, these trends are prompting some militaries to consider alternatives to the US HIMARS system, though it certainly remains a major player in this competition for contracts.”
Michael Peck is a defense journalist whose work has appeared in Forbes, Defense News, Foreign Policy magazine, and other publications. He holds a master’s degree in political science from Rutgers University. Follow him on Twitter And LinkedIn.
