Germany Is Developing GMARS

Lockheed Martin from the US and Rheinmetall from Germany have partnered to develop a High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) for the needs of Germany and European countries.

The project, GMARS (German HIMARS), was developed to replace the German Armed Forces' M270 multi-barreled rocket launcher system (MLRS), known as MARS 2.

It is known that the German MARS 2 system, several units of which have been donated to the Ukrainian military, was used against Russia last year.

This year, it is reported that the German Ministry of Defense will again donate five MARS-2 and their ammunition to Ukraine.

Regarding the GMARS system, it no longer uses tracked vehicles such as the M270/MARS 2, but uses the HX 88 family of military trucks made by RMMV (Rheinmetall MAN Military Vehicles).

This vehicle is much larger than the M142 HIMARS produced by Lockheed Martin, which is based on the FMTV 6x6 military truck.

If the M142 HIMARS only carried one pod containing six rocket tubes, then GMARS carried two pods containing six rockets each (12 rockets in total).

Apart from Rheinmetall, another German company, namely Diehl, will be involved in localizing the production of the GMARS.

Rheinmetall is considering supplying rocket motors, and Diehl may be contributing to warhead production with components from Lockheed Martin.

According to reports from the Bulgarian Military (24/6), at an early stage, it is planned to build the first five GMARS systems to be used for testing in 2025.