{"id":540666,"date":"2025-07-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=540666"},"modified":"2025-07-18T13:46:22","modified_gmt":"2025-07-18T13:46:22","slug":"army-replaces-howitzers-with-himars-to-boost-soldier-lethality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=540666","title":{"rendered":"Army replaces howitzers with HIMARS to boost Soldier lethality"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n Airmen unload High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers from a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, July 14, 2025. The HIMARS launchers were delivered to the 25th Infantry Division earlier this week as Howitzer battalions transform into HIMARS units. This transformation enhances the division’s Long-Range Precision Fires capability and strengthens its lethality and warfighting readiness to ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Taylor Gray)
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WASHINGTON \u2014 The Army will bolster its lethality in the Pacific region, where the 25th Infantry Division has started the transition from howitzer battalions to smaller, more agile High Mobility Artillery Rocket System, or HIMARS, units.<\/p>\n

Division leaders announced Tuesday that 73 13B cannoneer Soldiers volunteered to become 13M multiple launch rocket system crewmembers or rocketeers. Three HIMARS units arrived in Hawaii Monday as part of the unit\u2019s six-month transition to replace eight 105 mm and six 155mm howitzers with 16 total HIMARS units. Transition to the long range platform will result in a net-reduction of 119 Soldiers from Howitzer battalions to HIMARS.<\/p>\n

HIMARS, a mounted, multiple rocket launcher, gives Army formations a flexible and mobile, long-range option on the battlefield.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s clear that the HIMARS weapon system will make us more lethal at the end of the day,\u201d 25th ID commander Maj. Gen. Marcus Evans told reporters Tuesday. \u201cIt extends the range of long-range precision fires, while still retaining the capability to win in the close fight with the mobile brigades with the cannon artillery.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of the 73 who volunteered, 27 Soldiers needed to complete three-week transition courses coordinated by members of the Army National Guard. During the lessons, Soldiers learned to operate the multiple launch system and will later begin a training regimen in preparation for a fall validation exercise.<\/p>\n

As part of a Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, the Army will validate the division artillery formation, which will train in the use of HIMARS and certify the 25th ID\u2019s second mobile brigade.<\/p>\n

In the past year, the service has raised the amount of drones including a short range reconnaissance capability that extends from two to three kilometers to long-range drones, which can see up to 40 km.<\/p>\n

In addition, Evans said that the 25th ID\u2019s intelligence, information, and electronic warfare battalion, the 125th Military Intelligence Battalion, will transform into a \u201cmulti-domain fires battalion\u201d to boost its capability to see and sense father.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is occurring over the last year as part of Army transformation: we have got technology into the hands of Soldiers,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n

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\n High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers assigned to the 25th Infantry Division are staged on the flight line after being unloaded from an Air Force C-5 Galaxy at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, on July 14, 2025. This transformation enhances the division’s Long-Range Precision Fires capability and strengthens its lethality and warfighting readiness to ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Taylor Gray)
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As part of the Army\u2019s modernization efforts Soldiers have used more drones and new technology.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat allows them to see, sense and strike, protect and sustain at a faster rate, [with] increased operational reach,\u201d Evans said. \u201cAnd then now the Army is aligning long range fires capability with this technology to enhance the lethality and war fighting readiness of the division.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Army will evaluate and train with its new, long-range equipment at Schofield Barracks in the center of Oahu, at the Pohakuloa training area on the Big Island of Hawaii, and, by February 2026 at a location in the Philippines.<\/p>\n

The Army will still retain cannon capability despite the move to HIMARS, said Col. Dan Von Benken, Division Artillery commander.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the HIMARS gives us is agility,\u201d Evans said. \u201cOftentimes when you combine [HIMARS] in in terms of flooding the zone, trying to confuse [the] adversary\u2019s observation-sensing capability, and then having a piece of equipment that provides increased mobility like the HIMARS \u2026 you can now hide in the noise a little bit more, extend your operational reach, and you get increased mobility to be able to displace rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n

RELATED LINKS:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Army News Service<\/a><\/p>\n

ARNEWS archives<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Airmen unload High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) launchers from a U.S. Air Force C-5 Galaxy at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, July 14, 2025. The HIMARS launchers were delivered to the 25th Infantry Division earlier this week as Howitzer battalions transform into HIMARS units. This transformation enhances the division’s Long-Range Precision Fires capability and strengthens […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":540668,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-540666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=540666"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":540671,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/540666\/revisions\/540671"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/540668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=540666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=540666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=540666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}