Timothy Wright & Zuzanna Gwadera
Strengthening NATO capabilitiesCanada’s recent decision to buy a ‘long-range- missile capability’ makes it the latest NATO member intent on bolstering the capacity of its ground forces to engage targets over greater distances. As of 2024, the IISS Military Balance+ shows that 11 NATO allies possess close-range or short-range ballistic missiles (CRBM/SRBM) or guided rockets with a range of over 50 kilometres, with a further seven members either having placed orders or considering purchasing such a capability. These procurements will better align national defence capabilities with NATO’s 2022 Strategic Concept and its key objective for the Alliance to strengthen its defence posture.
This effort is most visible on NATO’s eastern flank. Here, orders have been driven by commonality concerns but also immediacy imperatives, with Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania purchasing Lockheed Martin’s M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), guided multiple-launch rocket system (GMLRS) rockets and the M57 Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS). To quickly fill a capability requirement, Poland split its order between the South Korean-produced K239 Chunmoo multiple-launch rocket system (MLRS) alongside the US-made M142 HIMARS. Warsaw received its first launcher from contracts for a total of 290 K239 Chunmoo systems in August 2023. As well as guided rockets, Poland will procure the 290 km-range Korean Tactical Surface-to-Surface Missile Block II (KTSSM-II) CRBM. Finland, which joined NATO in 2023, is upgrading its M270 MLRS and procuring associated extended-range guided munitions.
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