Estonia is boosting its defence capabilities by buying an advanced US rocket artillery system in the Baltic country’s largest arms procurement project ever, defence officials said. NATO member and Russia’s neighbour signed a deal worth more than $200m for the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), including equipment such as ammunition and rockets as well as training.
“The HIMARS multiple rocket launchers are a new important step in the development of Estonia’s defence capabilities,” Lieutenant-Colonel Kaarel Maesalu, head of the capability development department at the Estonian Defence Forces. “This makes it possible to decisively influence the enemy even before coming into contact with our infantry units.”
The first deliveries are expected to come in 2024. Estonia’s Baltic neighbours Latvia and Lithuania either have or are currently in the process of acquiring their own HIMARS, citing security concerns amid Russia’s war in Ukraine. – Al Jazeera