March 31, 2016 (The Wall Street Journal)
The Pentagon has drawn up plans to position American troops, tanks and other
armored vehicles full time along NATO’s eastern borders to deter Russian
aggression, in what would be the first such deployment since the end of the
Cold War. The Pentagon intends the plans as an escalation of a proposal it
announced last year, when it said it was looking at ways to increase U.S.
military deterrence in Eastern Europe, such as prepositioning older materiel in
the region. Some countries on the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s eastern
flank have expressed concern about the depth of the U.S. commitment to their
defense - especially in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s
intervention in Ukraine. Deputy Secretary of Defense Robert Work said the new
plan should allay such worries because it would position more of the U.S.
Army’s best and most-modern equipment in the area, while rotating in a
brigade’s worth of U.S. Army troops. The new gear includes 250 tanks, Bradley
Fighting Vehicles and Paladin self-propelled howitzers as well as more than
1,700 additional wheeled vehicles and trucks. Combined with equipment already
in Europe, “there will be a division’s worth of stuff to fight if something
happens,” Mr. Work told The Wall Street Journal. “If push came to shove, they’d
be able to come together as a cohesive unit that has trained together, with all
their organic equipment, and fight. That’s a lot better than what we have right
now.”
Lithuanian and U.S. troops taking part in military training in Rukla,
Lithuania, last week.
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