Europe ramps up rocket artillery as Ukraine conflict intensifies

During the Cold War, European armies had extensive artillery essential for a full-scale conflict, which was feared at the time. The collapse of the USSR brought relaxation, and subsequent financial crises encouraged governments to cut military spending. The start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has brought the importance of rocket artillery, including long-range systems, back into focus.

This resulted in procurement programs in some cases, especially since some European countries supported Kyiv with their own resources.

The war in Ukraine brought unexpected success for the Israeli Elbit PULS system with several types of missiles. These include Accular 122 mm rockets (18 rockets per package with a range of up to 35 kilometres or 22 miles), Accular 160 mm missiles (10 per package with a range of up to 40 kilometres or 25 miles), EXTRA 306 mm missiles (four per package with a range of up to 150 kilometres or 93 miles), and Predator Hawk ballistic missiles (two per package with a range of up to 300 kilometres or 186 miles, or 370 kilometres or 230 miles in the Israeli version).

In May 2023, the Netherlands bought 20 launchers of this system on a Scania Gryphus XT 8x8 truck chassis. This will allow for the restoration of rocket artillery capabilities, as the Netherlands retired its American M270 tracked vehicles in 2004. The Israelis beat out Lockheed Martin with the GMLRS/ATACMS system and M142 HIMARS launcher in the tender. A more interesting situation occurred in Denmark, where PULS (two batteries, about 12 units) was purchased along with ATMOS howitzers, which were intended to replace the recently purchased French CAESARs handed over to Ukraine.

This rather convoluted situation has developed into quite a scandal over time, as the delivery program to Denmark is delayed by about a year and its costs are expected to rise by about $195 million CAD (from $342 million CAD). Currently, an investigation is underway, set to conclude in July. One of the reasons is that the Danish Ministry of Defense found that when the contract was signed, the information regarding the purchase conditions was incomplete.

PULS also serves as the basis for the development of the Spanish SILAM (Sistema Lanzacohetes de Alta Movilidad, a high-mobility rocket launcher system). In the fall of 2023, Madrid chose the Israeli offer, involving cooperation with companies Expal, Escribano, GMV, and Iveco. This was necessary because Spanish companies were required to provide at least 75% of the launchers and at least 90% of the ammunition.

The requirement was to secure the local research, production, and economic potential to maintain independent capabilities in developing key ammunition. The Bundeswehr also chose the PULS system in a rather specific program. Five Israeli launchers will replace the MARS II systems (local version of M270) that were handed over to Ukraine. The purchase will be carried out in cooperation with the Netherlands, and the contract is expected to be signed later this year.

The thing is, according to the plan, the launchers will arrive in Germany only in 2028. A consolation for Berlin is the addition of an anti-ship missile capability with the NSM (or its land version), which will be produced under the Euro-PULS system (the German version of PULS) in cooperation with Kongsberg and KNDS Deutschland. This would make it an exciting complement to the system as a hard-to-detect cruise missile. The 3SM Tyrfing missile, developed in cooperation with Diehl Defence and MBDA Deutschland and recently declared by the Norwegian company, could also arm the land-based rocket system (although likely not the Euro-PULS, as its launcher might be too small).

This modest purchase could be the prelude to a much broader Long-Range Indirect Fire System program (Zukünftige System Indirektes Feuer großer Reichweite, ZukSysIndFgRw).

The French traditionally choose their path. From 2024-30, they intend to acquire 13 new rocket systems, and by 2035 - at least 13 more, considering two options: off-the-shelf purchase of M142 HIMARS or a national solution.

The second solution is preferred by the French Army General Staff. KNDS France and Arquus, along with Safran and MBDA France, have been working together. The latter proposed a solution similar to the American GLSDB missile (guided glide bomb with an added propulsion system) based on the AASM Hammer guided bomb family. On May 13, Thales (responsible for developing command and control system elements, as well as ammunition guidance systems) and ArianeGroup (responsible for developing a ballistic or quasi-ballistic missile) joined them. Ultimately, the French army expects a system capable of striking targets at a distance of over 500 kilometres or 310 miles. It is not known when a decision on the program will be made in France.

The GMLRS/ATACMS system with the M142 HIMARS launcher is also quite popular. Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, for example, bought it, collaborating with each other. Vilnius purchased eight launchers with ammunition (the contract was signed in December 2022) and is considering buying more. Latvia bought six launchers with ammunition, and Estonia also benefited from US government support covering 70 percent of the transaction value ($193 million CAD from $275 million).

Italy has also expressed interest in the HIMARS system, though purchasing up to 21 launchers with ammunition has not yet been approved. Interestingly, Hungary also tried to buy it but did not get approval for the sale, and when the US announced it would approve, Budapest declared it had changed its mind. The UK holds the related M270A2 system. This launcher carries two transport-launch containers for rockets on one tracked chassis. A few days ago, London announced that instead of just 44 launchers, it will modernize up to 85, meaning it has to buy more.

M142 and M270 launchers use many types of missiles, with the GMLRS family being the most common. GMLRS rockets guided by GPS range about 90 kilometres or 56 miles (GMLRS-ER up to 150 kilometres or 93 miles) and are offered with various warheads (high explosive, fragmentation, with a programmable fuse). Also available is the aforementioned GLSDB rocket bomb (notorious for its poor effectiveness in Ukraine due to Russian GPS jamming) and the MGM-140 ATACMS semi-ballistic (aeroballistic) missiles with a range of 165-300 kilometres or 103-186 miles and various warheads. They will be replaced by the PrSM with a range of up to 700 kilometres or 435 miles (PrSM-ER up to 1,000 kilometres or 621 miles) with a lighter warhead, allowing two missiles to fit in one transport-launch container instead of one ATACMS.

Poland and Romania went their own way. Warsaw, after temporarily suspending its domestic HOMAR system program in favor of purchasing 20 off-the-shelf HIMARS in 2020, returned to it in an extraordinary form after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

Concurrently, it was decided to buy a staggering 290 Korean Hanwha K239 Chunmoo systems (on a wheeled chassis, but with a pair of transport-launch containers) and thousands of missiles under two execution contracts (from fall 2022 and spring 2024). Despite political changes and the situation in Ukraine, it was decided to produce only 60 launchers in Poland. There is also no visible interest in producing ammunition, a priority for Spain and France.

The K239PL (one of the designations of the Polish version) may also replace the domestic WR-40 Langusta, as there is an option to develop a container for 122 mm rockets. Concurrently, in September 2023, a framework contract was signed for the delivery of 486 HIMARS launchers, this time partially localized (as with the K239, the chassis would be supplied by the Polish company Jelcz, and the fire control system by WB). Again, the localization of ammunition is also mentioned, though due to the lack of execution contracts, it's difficult to assess the actual willingness in this regard. These systems will be known as HOMAR-K and HOMAR-A.

Romania, on the other hand, bought 54 HIMARS systems with ammunition in February 2018. The first launchers reached the user in 2021, making Bucharest the first European user of HIMARS. Additionally, Romania is considering purchasing over a hundred K239s to replace old APR-40 systems. As with other potential purchases from Korea, Romania declares a willingness to produce the systems and ammunition locally.