Examples of a new Chinese vehicle, designed to mimic the M142 High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS), have appeared, soon after the first examples of the U.S.-made system were delivered to Taiwan. The surrogate vehicles, which are painted in Republic of Taiwan Army (ROCA)-style camouflage, are reportedly uncrewed and are indicative of the degree of realism that China is now looking to include in its wargames, which include extensive rehearsals for a potential campaign waged against Taiwan.
The HIMARS surrogate is built on an unidentified three-axle truck chassis and includes the distinctive HIMARS armored cabin as well as the six-round rocket launcher pod at the rear. On closer inspection, the vehicle is clearly of a lighter weight category than the original and would not offer the same level of off-road performance. On the other hand, for inclusion in military maneuvers, the level of authenticity is adequate.
There are differing reports as to the status of the vehicles, at least three of which are seen in a video that recently appeared on Chinese television. Some sources claim that the HIMARS mock-ups have already been involved in People’s Liberation Army (PLA) exercises, serving as part of the Opposing Force (OPFOR), for threat replication. Others state that the project is a commercial venture from a Chinese company, which is now seeking to secure orders from the Chinese military.
The reports suggesting that the HIMARS mock-ups are remotely operated, with no requirement for a driver onboard, are interesting and would seem to point to the vehicles’ optional destruction as part of live-fire exercises, at least in certain training scenarios, and for testing seekers and other weapons technologies.
At this point, it should be emphasized that the outward appearance of these vehicles is likely the main driver behind their development. As surrogate vehicles, they’re not meant to be a one-for-one replica of adversarial platforms. Instead, impersonations of these vehicles for OPFOR exercises will help PLA training efforts by injecting more realism in terms of visual spotting, vehicle identification, sensor targeting, and so on.
There are also unconfirmed reports that the vehicles are fitted with infrared emitters to better simulate the thermal signature of the HIMARS launcher.
Regardless of the operational status of the Chinese HIMARS surrogate, there is little doubt that the original platform represents a significant threat to the PLA, even though its forces far outnumber those that Taiwan can muster and also boast increasingly sophisticated and far-reaching firepower.
The HIMARS can fire a single Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) missile or up to six artillery rockets without reloading. The artillery rockets include the M30/31 Guided Multiple-Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) variety, turning these projectiles into highly-precise rapid strike weapons. GMLRS has a range of around 50 miles, while the much larger and harder-hitting ATACMS can reach out 180 miles. Taiwan has received both artillery rockets and ATACMS, which is a short-range ballistic missile that has seen notable combat use in Ukrainian hands.
For the U.S. military, at least, the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) will replace the ATACMS, offering much greater range and eventually anti-ship capabilities, among other critical improvements. Furthermore, the Extended Range GMLRS (ER GMLRS) will double the range of the current M30/31 guided rockets.
Taiwan ordered 11 M142 HIMARS from the United States in 2020. The state-run Central News Agency (CNA) reported in November last year that the initial 11 M142 launchers, as well as a first batch of MGM-140 ATACMS missiles, had begun to arrive in Taiwan.
Citing unnamed sources, CNA reported that the HIMARS and its ATACMS weapons would be assigned to the ROCA’s 58th Artillery Command, which is based in Taichung City, on the east coast of Taiwan, adjacent to the Taiwan Strait.
At one stage, Taiwan had planned to order U.S.-made 155mm M109A6 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, but in the event, the government abandoned this in favor of more HIMARS and ATACMS. Now, the total order stands at 29 M142 launchers, 84 ATACMS missiles, as well as 864 guided artillery rockets for the same launchers.
In May 2025, citing the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the Taipei Times reported that deliveries of U.S.-made arms to Taiwan had been accelerated, including HIMARS/ATACMS, with 16 more ATACMS missiles arriving in January of this year. This report suggested that this was the first batch of ATACMS missiles delivered to Taiwan, raising doubts about reports of an earlier delivery. The Taipei Times also said that all 84 84 ATACMS missiles would be delivered by the end of the first quarter of 2025. The delivery of the HIMARS launchers and guided artillery rockets, meanwhile, will continue until 2027.
There are meanwhile reports that Taiwan also plans to add another 28 HIMARS launchers to its orders, to provide 57 in total. This still requires government approval and the final signing off from Washington, however.
The ROCA conducted its first live-fire tests with the HIMARS during the Han Kuang exercises in May of this year. These drills demonstrated Taiwan’s ability to strike across the Taiwan Strait with precision, something that would be of enormous value were it to go to war with China and a capability that seriously complicates PLA planning.
In wartime, the ROCA would be expected to employ HIMARS to counter possible PLA amphibious assaults and seizures of sea and airports — facilities that would enable the delivery of the bulk of the PLA invasion force.
As well as ROCA HIMARS/ATACMS, any Chinese military move against Taiwan would very likely also face U.S.-operated systems of the same type.
As TWZ has reported in the past, were China to invade Taiwan, U.S. Marine Corps units and their HIMARS would likely be rushed to southwestern Japanese islands near Taiwan and abutting the East China Sea, while a relatively new U.S. Army unit built in part to stop China from closing off the South China Sea would head to adjacent military bases in the Philippines.
With the HIMARS/ATACMS having such an important place within the Taiwanese and U.S. military inventories, it is not surprising that it would be singled out by China and a surrogate vehicle developed. Once again, while the operational status of these vehicles is unclear, they would be of value for PLA training centers to practice against.
For obvious reasons, China buying and maintaining actual HIMARS vehicles for this purpose is impossible, and a less sophisticated training vehicle is an established way of fielding a more accessible and affordable option compared to a complex, expensive, and more accurate surrogate.
It is worth noting that similar solutions are found in other militaries around the globe, including in the United States.
Among the examples are the surrogate vehicles fielded by the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment, Idaho Army National Guard, which is primarily tasked with playing the role of the bad guys during major exercises at the U.S. Army’s National Training Center (NTC) at Fort Irwin in California. The unit continues to introduce surrogate wheeled vehicles that visually reflect platforms from both partner and adversary nations, as you can read about here. In the United States, OPFOR units like the 11th are also called upon to play the role of friendly third-party forces that use non-U.S. equipment, during exercises.
More generally, China is making extensive investments in highly realistic training aids for ground forces, including new and improved research and development and training bases and highly realistic facilities to prepare its forces for the sorts of environments they’d be likely to fight in during future conflicts. With an eye squarely on future contingencies involving Taiwan, the PLA’s Zhurihe Training Base in remote Inner Mongolia notably features a huge full-size mockup of a portion of downtown Taipei, the capital of Taiwan, including highly elaborate recreations of its Presidential Office Building and Ministry of Foreign Affairs. There’s also a cloverleaf highway interchange, a mock airfield, and, more surprisingly, a replica of France’s Eiffel Tower.
Also in China, and very much at the other end of the scale of the surrogate HIMARS vehicle, there are also full-scale targets of U.S. Navy warships, found on a sprawling range in the northwestern end of the country. These include a visual representation of the U.S. Navy’s newest supercarrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, among other vessels. These targets reflect the PLA’s continued focus on expanding and refining its ability to engage American carriers and other warships over long distances, which includes a growing arsenal of anti-ship ballistic and cruise missiles. This is all part of China’s evolving anti-access and area denial strategy across much of the Western Pacific.
The same range complex is also home to at least one very large rail-based mobile ship target that you can read more about here.
While very different in scale, the naval targets and the surrogate HIMARS vehicles together reflect a growing focus on the part of the PLA to create targets and training aids of increasingly high fidelity. Using targets that are more representative of the real thing also helps produce more accurate data during testing, an important factor when new weapons are being developed.
As well as additional realism during training exercises, vehicles like the surrogate HIMARS underscore the particular concerns of the PLA at a given point in time. Bearing in mind the capabilities of HIMARS/ATACMS, its recent deployment in Taiwan, and the possibility of a future conflict over the island, it is little surprise that China has developed this vehicle at this point, and it will be interesting to see if other similarly specific training aids emerge in the future.
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