HIMARS, the weapon that struck fear into the Russians, is one of the important elements of Romania's arsenal, dozens of such missile launchers are in the equipment of our country's armed forces, and recently they were part of a multinational exercise that held in Constanta.
HIMARS – Multinational training exercise in the 57th Air Base "Mihail Kogălniceanu"
Operators of the latest Missile Launcher Systems – HIMARS are training with the latest training concepts!
An eloquent example of a joint operation, at an allied level, was demonstrated on Wednesday, November 9, at the 57th "Mihail Kogălniceanu" Air Base, by conducting a joint Romanian-American training exercise with artillery structures from the 8th Operational Missile Brigade Tactics, for the implementation of the concept of rapid infiltration of HIMARS / High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (Rapid Aerial Insertion / HI-RAIN)".
The HI-RAIN type exercise aimed, for the first time, to verify and test the possibilities of embarking and disembarking the HIMARS equipment from the equipment of the 8th ROT Brigade in Airbus A400M aircraft, belonging to the Royal Air Force of Great Britain, in order to develop the concept of rapid infiltration of this missile system, as well as its air transport on the territory of Romania, together with the personnel who serve it.
For the 8th ROT Brigade, the main objective of this exercise was to train and certify the personnel of the 81st ROT Battalion on the ability to plan and execute such a mission, a capability it developed together with the American partner as part of the program of endowment "Multiple Launch System of Long-range Missiles" - HIMARS.
An important role in planning was also played by the Air Support Service for Special Operations Forces (SOATG core) within the Headquarters of the Romanian Air Force.
"For us, the execution of this exercise together with our partners in the Alliance is an essential element for increasing the level of interoperability, the development of military cooperation and, last but not least, an opportunity to demonstrate the national capabilities developed in the field of fire support", declared colonel Daniel Condruz, commander of the 8th Tactical Missile Brigade.
Major General Iulian Berdilă, Chief of the General Staff of the Land Forces, highlighted the fact that the main objective regarding the achievement of the "Indirect Fire Support Capability", related to the endowment program "Multiple Launch System of High Range Missiles" - HIMARS, considered at the level of the Romanian Land Forces, it is the operationalization of the entire brigade by the end of 2024.
"The organization of such exercises is an opportunity to develop the partnership between the Romanian Army and the armed forces within the Alliance and, at the same time, a necessity for demonstrating national capabilities in the field of indirect fire support, considering the common regional security interest. We want such an exercise to be part of the training routine of the Romanian and allied military." emphasized Major General Iulian Berdila.
