Servicemen of the US Land Forces deployed in Europe left on Monday, together with the military technic in endowment, from Poland towards the “Mihail Kogalniceanu” Air Base in Constanta County, as part of the US commitments in ensuring the security of the east flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), within the Atlantic Resolve Operation, a release of the National Defence Ministry (MApN) informs.
Approximately 500 US servicemen are part of the “Fighting Eagles” Battalion 1 and they are equipped with M1 Abrams tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzer 155MM M109A6 Paladin type, the quoted source points out.
They will conduct shooting exercises with fighting ammunition on a squad and company level in the Smardan secondary battle training Center and will attend multinational exercises planned to take place this year, alongside servicemen of tank and mechanized infantry subunits within the Romanian Land Forces, belonging to the 284th “Cuza Voda” Tank Battalion and 300th “Sfantul Andrei” Mechanized Infantry Battalion.
The US fight unit that will arrive in Romania is part of the Brigade 3 Armored which deployed around 3,500 servicemen and 2,800 pieces of military technic from the Fort Carson, Colorado state in Bremerhaven, Germany, at the beginning of January. This unit will station in Romania for a period of nine months, afterwards it will be replaced by another fight unit, ensuring this way a consistent presence, based on continuous rotation in Europe.
The deployment in Romania develops the Romanian-US cooperation in the area of security, ensuring opportunities of joint training that will enhance the NATO allies’ and partners’ capacity, will also improve inter-operability and general capacity of the US forces to respond to a possible crisis, the MApN mentions.
According to the quoted source, the development of the Romania – US Strategic Partnership is a major objective assumed on a national level, both on the political and military level. In this context, the rotational presence of the US forces on the national territory and in the Black Sea region, as well as the support ensured by the US in the national defense capability upgrading process have an essential role in the current security context of our country region, the MApN underlines.