Live firing with US rocket artillery

Swedish Armed Forces Headquarters – 25 October 2021 kl: 16.30
Archived news

During the ongoing Special Forces exercise, new capabilities and weapon systems have been tested to enhance the joint operational capability in the vicinity of Sweden. For the first time, the US long-range weapon system HIMARS was launched in Sweden.

HiMARS
HiMARS
The US long-range artillery rocket system HIMARS is launched on Swedish territory. Photo: Joel Thungren/Försvarsmakten

At 9.00 a.m. on Saturday, a Swedish Hercules landed on a road base on the cold and windy island of Gotland. Shortly after, a US Hercules landed with the long-range artillery system M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) on board.

Within a few minutes, the system was assembled and ready to launch. It was then loaded on board the aircraft again and transported up to northern Sweden to demonstrate live firing. It was the first time this feature was fully exercised.

“Everything went very well. The joint exercises conducted this past weekend demonstrate how far we’ve come in our cooperation with the US”, says Michel Claesson, Chief of Joint Operations.