Australia gets second batch of HIMARS two years early

The Australian Army has received a second batch of HIMARS rocket launchers from the United States, two years earlier than planned and about a year after the first batch arrived, Australia’s Department of Defence said.

The new launchers are going to the long-range fires regiment of the Army’s 10th Fires Brigade, based in Adelaide. Defence did not say how many launchers were in the second batch or when the next delivery is due. Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy said the program is now on track to be fully operational four years ahead of schedule.

HIMARS, short for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, is a Lockheed Martin-built launcher mounted on a six-wheeled truck. It fires a pod of six GMLRS guided rockets with a range of about 70 km (43 miles), or a Precision Strike Missile, known as PrSM, which Australia says can hit targets up to 500 km (310 miles) away. Defence expects future versions of PrSM to reach beyond 1,000 km (620 miles).

Australia plans to field up to 90 launchers, bought through the U.S. Foreign Military Sales program, across two long-range fires regiments within the 10th Fires Brigade. The first two HIMARS reached Australia in March 2025, and Australian troops fired a PrSM for the first time during Exercise Talisman Sabre in July 2025, two years earlier than originally planned.

In April, the government picked HIMARS and PrSM over a rival bid for a second long-range fires regiment under its LAND 8113 Phase 2 project, committing A$2.3 billion (about $1.6 billion) over the next decade. The new regiment will be based at the Edinburgh Defence Precinct in South Australia. The government says it is spending up to A$37 billion over the decade on targeting and long-range strike capabilities overall.

Australia is also building its own ammunition for the launchers. A GMLRS factory opened at Port Wakefield, South Australia, in December 2025, and in April the Army test-fired the first Australian-made GMLRS rocket from a HIMARS at the Woomera Test Range. Australia is the only country outside the United States producing GMLRS. Canberra and Washington set up a cooperative PrSM program last year, and the government says it plans to expand local production to include PrSM.