The American defence giant Lockheed Martin is to establish a HIMARS sustainment centre in Estonia, in a move that further deepens the Baltic region’s military integration with the United States and underlines Estonia’s growing role on NATO’s eastern flank.
The agreement was reached in Washington at a meeting between Estonia’s defence minister, Hanno Pevkur, and Paula J Hartley, vice-president of Lockheed Martin.
The planned centre, which will serve all three Baltic states, is expected to be operational within two years and will involve an initial investment of about €10 million.
A vote of confidence in Estonia
Pevkur described the decision as a vote of confidence in Estonia and a sign of Lockheed Martin’s willingness to build a lasting presence in the country.
“We have worked very hard to bring Lockheed Martin to Estonia, and the agreement that has been struck here today is hopefully just the start of a larger, long-running partnership,” he said after the meeting.
According to the minister, the discussions also touched on the possibility of expanding the company’s footprint in Estonia in the future. Hartley, he said, had indicated that the prospects for broader cooperation were “very positive”.
A Lockheed Martin delegation is expected to visit Estonia in the near future, possibly as early as next week.
Estonia now has six HIMARS launchers
In April 2025, Estonia received its first six HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, a landmark moment for national defence and one of the country’s largest-ever arms procurements.
The systems were formally handed over at Ämari Air Base and form part of a wider trilateral Baltic initiative involving Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
At the time, Pevkur said the arrival of the US-made launchers had ushered in “a new era of independent defence capability” for Estonia, achieved in close cooperation with the country’s most important strategic ally, the United States.
Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the HIMARS – the High Mobility Artillery Rocket System – is a truck-mounted launcher capable of delivering precision strikes at ranges of more than 300 kilometres. Mobile, NATO-interoperable and combat-tested, it has become one of the most closely watched artillery systems in the world following its battlefield success in Ukraine.
The arrival of the six launchers followed more than three years of preparation, including procurement, training and the formation of an Estonian unit.
Giving Baltic forces deeper reach behind enemy lines
Magnus-Valdemar Saar, director general of the Estonian Centre for Defence Investments at the time, said the HIMARS programme was more than the acquisition of a new weapons platform.
“This is the materialisation of a joint Baltic force development programme,” he said when the systems arrived in April. “Latvia and Lithuania will soon receive their own systems, enabling the region’s militaries to project force deep into enemy territory.”
The HIMARS acquisition was formalised in December 2022, when Estonia signed a contract with the US Defence Security Cooperation Agency. The manufacturer, Lockheed Martin, supplied the system as part of a package worth $200 million, making it Estonia’s largest-ever arms procurement at the time.
In addition to the launchers themselves, the package included munitions of varying range, communications systems, training, logistics and lifecycle support.
For Estonia, the planned sustainment centre is more than a maintenance hub. It is also a signal that a leading US defence contractor sees the country not merely as a customer, but as a long-term partner and a regional anchor for military capability in the Baltics.
Lockheed Martin is one of the world’s largest defence companies. In addition to HIMARS, it manufactures the fifth-generation F-35 fighter jet, Patriot air defence systems and Black Hawk helicopters.
