MUNICH — Estonie pourrait abandonner un projet de deuxième achat de systèmes de fusées d’artillerie à haute mobilité M142 fabriqués par Lockheed Martin (HIMAR) si le gouvernement américain ne peut apaiser ses inquiétudes concernant les délais de livraison et les créneaux de production, avec une décision probable dans les mois à venir, déclare le ministre de la Défense de l’État balte à Breaking Defense.
“Je voudrais parler” avec le gouvernement américain pour lui demander : “ sont-ils prêts à accélérer la production, ou sont-ils prêts à nous donner plus tôt [production] slots car les informations que nous avons rassemblées aujourd’hui montrent clairement que le délai de livraison est très long et que nous n’avons pas autant de temps, des,” Hanno Pevkur a déclaré dans une interview vendredi en marge de la Conférence de Munich sur la sécurité.
Principalement conçus pour frapper des cibles fixes, les HIMARS se sont révélés être des atouts formidables pour l’Ukraine et sont crédités de succès contre les lignes d’approvisionnement russes, les dépôts de munitions et les centres de commandement et de contrôle. Les États-Unis ont supprimé “plus de 40” HIMARS en Ukraine, selon une fiche d’information du Département d’État.
Breaking Defense initially reported on the prospect of a second HIMARS order in October, when another Estonian official disclosed issues linked with delivery lead times and pricing.
Dependent on how Washington responds to Estonia’s questions, Tallinn will either go ahead with a second tranche of HIMARS or change course and potentially opt for an alternative. A decision will be made on the preferred platform in a “couple of months,” said Pevkur.
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Rocketsan’s Khan, from Turkey, and the Elbit Precise and Universal Launching System (PULS), out of Israel, are known to be in the running, but in his discussion with Breaking Defense, Pevkur only mentioned South Korea’s Hanwha Aerospace-made K239 Chunmoo. Poland is already a customer for the Chunmoo, and it is also under consideration with Norway, while Hanwha is also providing Estonia with 36 K9 Thunder self-propelled howitzers.
Hanwha “is one of the competitors” involved in the impending artillery equipment decision, Pevkur said, adding that he met with South Korea’s acting defense minister Kim Seon-ho and Hanwha Aerospace officials last month.
Lockheed Martin did not immediately respond to questions on HIMARS production.
“As a matter of policy, we are unable to comment on or confirm potential or pending arms transfers before they are formally notified to Congress,” said a US State Department official on background.
HIMARS And Ukraine
Estonia has needed to invest in long-range fires in part because the country has made major donations of its own equipment to support Ukraine — something Dmytro Kuleba, the former Ukrainian foreign affairs minister, made clear by interrupting Breaking Defense’s interview with Pevkur.
After making sure Pevkur was talking to a reporter, Kuleba said he wanted to underline publicly how much Estonia’s support means to Kyiv.
“Ukrainians appreciate Estonia probably more than anyone else because they gave all the artillery that they had to us… and never complained, [or said] ‘how are we going to survive without howitzers’ like some other much more powerful nations did,” Kuleba said.
To help fill the gap left by those donations, Tallinn has made key progress on a first order of six HIMARS units, a package worth over $200 million that includes several rocket types that can reach a range between 70km and 300km, communications systems, training and logistics.
“Officially, we’ve got the keys,” said Pevkur, in recognition of a HIMARS handover ceremony that took place at Lockheed Martin’s headquarters in Camden, Arkansas last month.
The first six systems “are somewhere, probably in the Atlantic Ocean at the moment, but they will be delivered very soon,” he added.
On other future procurements, Pevkur noted that there is “still some time” to decide on a XA-180 armored personnel carrier replacement acquisition.