NATO confirms plans for US military storage in Poland
NATO on 23 March 2019 confirmed it plans a storage facility for US military equipment in Poland, as the alliance steps up its defences in the face of increased Russian assertiveness. The Wall Street Journal reported that the $260 million facility will be located in Powidz, some 200 km (120 miles) west of Warsaw, and will house armoured vehicles, ammunition and weapons for a brigade.
Building work will start later this year and is expected to take two years, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg told the Journal. A NATO official confirmed the report was accurate.
NATO has increased defences along its eastern flank in the wake of Russia's annexation of Crimea and its role in the ongoing Ukraine conflict. Battlegroups have been deployed in the three Baltic states as well as Poland and NATO has launched an overhaul of its command structure and is taking steps to improve how quickly it can move troops and equipment around Europe in case of incursion. The practice of ‘pre-positioning’ equipment in strategic locations is also aimed at making it easier to deploy resources quickly in a crisis.
Stoltenberg told the Journal the new facility would ‘underpin the increased US presence in Poland’. Poland's government has been beefing up its military ties with the US, agreeing in February to buy American mobile rocket launchers worth $414 million and a year ago signing a $4.75 billion contract for a US-made Patriot anti-missile system.
Warsaw has also been pushing for the US to open a permanent military base. Nearly 5,000 American troops are already stationed on a rotational basis as part of NATO operations.
More from Defence Notes
-
Turning the Hiroshima Accord into Action: Enhancing UK-Japan Defence Collaboration (Studio)
The UK-Japan strategic partnership leverages joint defence initiatives, advanced technologies, and SME integration to enhance military capabilities, foster innovation, and ensure regional and global stability through collective action and effective project management.
-
NATO countries outline strategies to accelerate defence industrial production
During the Washington Summit, member states also agreed to improve manufacturing capacities across the alliance and continue investing in joint projects with Ukraine.
-
Why the US military needs an “innovation intervention”
Several issues in the Pentagon’s structure and the defence industrial base have been hampering the country's efforts to produce cutting-edge solutions.