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TORUN, Poland – Senior leaders from V Corps, partner U.S. formations and allied services launched into the pathbreaking European High Mobility Artillery Rocket System Initiative April 17-19 at the Polish Artillery School.
The European Rocket Artillery Summit marked the first major milestone of the HIMARS Initiative and introduced key leaders, staff members and technical experts to relevant concepts as well as doctrinal, organizational, training and logistical considerations.
The summit featured remarks from senior leaders, panel discussions led by relevant subject matter experts, static displays and a modest handful of social activities. Panelists discussed topics spanning from employment of long-range rocket artillery in large scale conflict, effective targeting and achievement of improved accuracy through precision technology to systems management, operational processes and integration.
“Building lethality and expanded combat capability with NATO allies and partners is a critical requirement for V Corps,” said Lt. Gen. John S. Kolasheski, the Corps commanding general and summit host. “HIMARS and other rocket artillery systems help us achieve this. So, we’re trying to push through the friction and challenges that diminish our interoperability, integration and ability to achieve these outcomes. The European HIMARS Initiative provides forums – starting with this summit – to gather and work through those challenges.”
“This event is critical,” added Lt. Gen. Wieslaw Kukula, commanding general of the Polish Territorial Defence Forces. “It is the next step along the road to implementation of the HIMARS system. It marks a new way of thinking, how we create a shared mental picture. We are very close from a mental and a human point of view. This summit will only strengthen those bonds.”
Lt. Gen. Tomasz Piotrowski, operational commander of the Polish armed forces, likewise emphasized the human dimension of the summit and enduring partnership among participating leaders and services. He described the summit as an ideal forum for “very fruitful discussions” that reinforced “good relations between us as friends and allies. It was a perfect opportunity to share our perspectives, thoughts and concerns. I think that strengthened our relationships.”
Maj. Gen. Greg Anderson, commanding general of the 10th Mountain Division and a key leader in partner training efforts across NATO’s eastern flank, emphasized the team-building as well as the human dimension of the initiative.
The summit, he said, “means a lot to both the division and our allies and teammates. We’re training each other – iron sharpens iron. Our allies are sharpening us as we sharpen them. In terms of fires, we’re bringing all the components of the fires architecture together – intelligence, logistics, mission command, fires lethality – this summit is asking, how do you stitch all that together so divisions and corps can fight next to each other?”
From a tactical and operational standpoint, the summit and broader HIMARS initiative aim to boost allied lethality and capability on the battlefield.
Col. Wil Hsu, commander of the 41st Field Artillery Brigade, summarized the main advantages of the HIMARS platform. Its superior reach, he noted, “adds depth for the commander to reach targets that are really far out.” Its improved mobility, moreover, allows artillery to “travel very quickly and move all around” more challenging “cross-country terrain.” Its portability, lastly, permits air transit, “so the HIMARS can go on C130s and C17s and be transported around the European theater and make a big impact.”
Integration across human, procedural and technical domains, a principle embodied most concretely in the “Interoperability Laboratory” – widely known as the “ILAB” throughout Corps and allied formations – figured prominently in summit discussions. Col. John Hosey, the Corps Security Cooperation director and foremost ILAB authority, participated energetically in a panel devoted to the topic and demonstrated facility capabilities during the summit.
“Interoperability is a critical topic to the alliance, because being effective results in a more credible collective defense of Europe,” Hosey said. “Each nation can have differences in the way they create their networks, but if it is built to the NATO standard we can federate and communicate on a daily basis. The tempo has increased by allies and partners in wanting the ability to share a common operating picture, which facilitates decision dominance, basically allowing leaders to detect, decide and deliver at speed.”
Allies expressed an equally forceful commitment to integration across domains and a similarly optimistic view of ongoing efforts.
“I think we’ve brought interoperability to the next level,” said Maj. Gen. Christian-Daniel Dan, deputy chief of Romanian Land Forces. “It’s just amazing. It’s fantastic.” We need to align “our way of thinking,” in terms of “people, processes, procedure… Technology means a lot and we have to ensure working as a team we are able to make it happen.”
Hsu directly and forcefully articulated the implications of successful integration for shared NATO endeavors and the destiny of the alliance.
The basis for NATO, he said, “is 31 nations coming together for a common defense. And what makes that possible is interoperability – 31 nations coming together, able to communicate, whether it be using artillery systems, command and control systems, intelligence, logistics, whatever the system is. If we’re able to communicate together, work together, then we can fight together, and most importantly, have the ability to win.”
The HIMARS initiative, a tailored operational, activity and investment framework for ongoing rocket artillery endeavors, aims to boost NATO capability and interoperability. The initiative, developed in close coordination with allies, focuses on specific needs of participating countries. A scalable, flexible approach that maximizes versatility and initiative, aims for greater lethality, integration, precision and artillery expertise.
The initiative’s next steps include additional leader engagements and planning and synchronization forums as well as aggressive training and mentorship efforts, punctuated by a HIMARS apprenticeship program. The apprenticeship program will match allied personnel with specialized U.S. Soldiers and formations to inculcate knowledge of systems, capabilities and procedures.
The V Corps commander outlined the way ahead.
The second phase of the HIMARS initiative, Kolasheski noted, “is a series of operations and logistics summits, where we bring in a community of interest – those who have HIMARS and those scheduled to get HIMARS through the foreign military sales process.” The third phase, he continued, “is an apprenticeship program, where we take those same countries and their Soldiers and we embed them in comparable U.S. Army units. We take their officers and noncommissioned officers and embed them into our HIMARS or MLRS battalions, where they get an opportunity to learn what it takes to effectively man, train, maintain and sustain the system.”
The final phase involves additional new equipment training as allied units prepare to acquire their own systems. “This training is part of a program manager-delivered program of instruction,” Kolasheski said.
“We’re very excited about this initiative,” the V Corps commanding general added. “We see this as the underpinning of an expanded ability to fight with joint fires in support of large-scale combat operations.”
| Date Taken: | 04.19.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 04.19.2023 16:13 |
| Story ID: | 442935 |
| Location: | TORUN, PL |
| Hometown: | FORT KNOX, KENTUCKY, US |
| Web Views: | 337 |
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