The Marines plan to buy two HIMARS rocket trucks for testing, and eventually buy 45 of them. HIMARS is a truck-mounted lightweight version of the MLRS multiple rocket artillery system used by the Army. Rather than a tracked vehicle mounting two rocket pods as in MLRS, HIMARS mounts a single rocket pod, and is much lighter. The Army is buying HIMARS for its lighter divisions. The Marines want to form two battalions, each with 18 HIMARS launchers; the other nine will go into maintenance and training units. The two battalions will be in the 14th Marine Regiment, which is the divisional artillery for the 4th Marine Division. These will be reserve battalions activated only for wartime of major crises.--Stephen V Cole