On Thursday, August 14, 2025, the U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) announced the Department of State’s approval for the potential sale to the Kingdom of Bahrain of a batch of M142 HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) multiple rocket launchers in a package worth up to 500 million USD.
Photo: US Army
According to the published information, the government in Manama requested the acquisition of four M1140 launchers of the M142 HIMARS system and three sets of the IFATDS (International Field Artillery Tactical Data System).
The request also included the following items not defined as MDE (Major Defense Equipment): an undisclosed number of launch pods with M28A2 LCRRPR (Low Cost Reduced Range Practice Rocket) training missiles with a range of 7.5 to 14.3 km, HMMWV-based fire direction centers, M1084A3 ammunition resupply vehicles, Driver Vision Enhancer systems, AN/PSN-13 DAGR (Defense Advanced GPS Receiver) navigation receivers, auxiliary and test equipment, simulators, generators, integration and testing support, spare and repair parts, communications equipment, software deliveries and support, facility and infrastructure support, publications and technical documentation, personnel training and training equipment, support equipment, engineering, technical, and logistics support services provided by the U.S. government and the contractor (Lockheed Martin), surveys and assessments, and other related logistics and program support elements.
Analysis
Currently, the Royal Bahraini Army has operated, since 1997, nine older tracked M270 MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket System) launchers. Under a decision made on March 24, 2022, these launchers are being upgraded to the M270A1 standard for a total of up to 175.98 million USD. In the meantime, in 2019, Bahrain ordered additional GMLRS guided munitions and MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles. Moreover, since July 2021, Bahrain has fielded at least eight Chinese NORINCO SR-5 launchers on Taian TA5310 6×6 chassis, which are the export variant of the PHL-11 system.
In recent years, Bahrain has acquired modern weaponry from the United States. This includes 50 M1A2SEPv3 Abrams tanks along with 28 support vehicles, 16 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70 multirole aircraft, 12 Bell AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters, eight Lockheed Martin/Sikorsky UH-60M Black Hawk multirole helicopters, and nine MIM-104 Patriot air defense system launchers.
In previous decades, the Royal Bahraini Army also acquired FGM-148 Javelin and BGM-71C TOW anti-tank guided missiles, 339 M113A2 armored personnel carriers, as well as several dozen FIM-92 Stinger man-portable air-defense systems and AN/TWQ-1 Avenger short-range air-defense systems (both the TOW and Avenger mounted on HMMWV chassis, of which over 200 have been procured in total).
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