MILAN — Lockheed Martin has formally offered its HIMARS artillery system to France, with company officials pledging an 18-month delivery time if Paris puts them on contract, according to sources close to the matter.
The offer, which the sources say was made in consultation with Washington, is based on internal investments from the world’s largest defense contractor that would speed up the procurement process. The American proposal further envisions transferring a significant portion of the launchers to France in 2028, with the plan that the launchers could use the same GMLRS rockets used by Paris’ legacy LRU systems.
The French media publication Challenges was the first to report Lockheed was talking to Paris about the FLP-T (Frappe Longue Portée – Terre) program, for which the country has allocated approximately €600 million ($692 million) in its 2024-2030 Military Programming Act. Launched in 2023, the program seeks to replace France’s aging fleet of LRU multiple-launch rocket systems, which are set to be retired as early as 2027.
The French Ministry of Defense told Breaking Defense that the US government responded “in early 2026” to France’s request for pricing and delivery schedules regarding the acquisition of HIMARS.
The exact size and cost of Lockheed’s offer are unknown, and it is unclear whether this agreement would allow France to skip the queue ahead of existing HIMARS customers, which would naturally ruffle feathers in those capitals.
Lockheed Martin is not the only party interested in securing this contract, as a number of other options have been evaluated for some time, according to the French MoD.
“France has evaluated and compared two French solutions through an innovative partnership that pitted two temporary consortia against each other: Safran/MBDA and Thales/Arianne Group. At the same time, it has also been assessing various off-the-shelf solutions,” the MoD said in an email statement. (Thales conducted the first live-fire test of its new X-Fire launcher last month as part of this program.)
A recent study published by the French Institute français des relations internationales (IFRI) recommended that the South Korean K239 Chunmoo, produced by Hanwha Aerospace, be the preferred off-the-shelf interim alternative for the French long-range rocket artillery requirements.
Léo Péria-Peigné, head of the defense research unit at IFRI, notes that the issue with these domestic alternatives is that they are not yet in production.
“The French-developed systems that were tested last month [and are being evaluated] are still under development and not yet fully available — the risk is that this creates a problematic capability gap in long-range fires for France,” Péria-Peigné said.
He added that the country is currently caught between its desire to opt for a fully French-made system — so as to avoid the constraints that Washington may impose on the use of its weapons — and the urgency to move quickly.
Some defense analysts have questioned how realistic it would be for the Elysee to go for an American system, considering that the two countries have been at odds recently due to clashes on a number of issues, including foreign policy and trade.
Péria-Peigné says he expects “significant push-back” against selecting HIMARS, noting that the most likely to support this choice would be the DGA, the procurement arm of the French MoD, and certain stakeholders wanting to solve the problem and move on.
