US approves GMLRS rounds for Jordan

An M142 from Jordan's 29th Royal HIMARS Battalion during Exercise ‘Lion Flight' in 2018. (US Air Force)

The US State Department has approved the sale of 114 Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) pods to Jordan for an estimated USD70 million, the Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced on 8 February.

Each pod contains six of the guided version of the rocket used with the tracked M270 MLRS and wheeled M142 High-Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS).

The DSCA said the proposed sale is for rounds with unitary warheads, a reference to the M31 variant that has a range of 70 km, and also includes 114 reduced-range practice rockets, presumably meaning pods.

When the DSCA announced in 2009 that a Jordanian request for 12 HIMARS had been approved, it said the proposed package included 72 M31 GMLRS pods and 36 practice rocket pods.

The M142s were delivered in 2012 and subsequent exercises have shown them in service with the Jordanian Armed Forces' (JAF's) 29th Royal HIMARS Battalion.