A little over 64,000 U.S. soldiers are available in Europe ready to go to Europe’s east flank, if President Biden calls for it to combat growing Russian aggression on the Ukraine border.
Vladimir Putin sent 100,000 Russian troops to Ukraine’s border, and continues to stir fears that he might invade. The U.S. could have to prepare its forces and the cache of arms it has throughout Europe including 40 warships and 175 planes and 90 tanks.
According to military officials, the commander in chief was presented with a plan for up to 50,000 soldiers if security conditions worsen and Russia invades Ukraine.
At the same time, the U.S. told families of U.S. embassy to go home ‘due to the continued threat’ of such an attack, the State Department said Sunday.
The U.S. still had approximately 175,000 soldiers stationed overseas as of September 20, 2121, although this number can fluctuate due to changes in withdrawals or deployments. Nearly 64,000 members of that service were located in Europe.
About 750 U.S. bases are located in over 80 countries.
The command for 40 U.S. warships is located in Italy. However, the U.S. already has a strong relationship with Russia through sending ships to the troubled Black Sea.
Germany is home to the most U.S. soldiers in Europe. Only Japan and America are more rooted there. It is home to 35,468 U.S. troops, which includes 13,009 Air Force, 21,585 Army, and a small number of Marine Corps and Navy troops.
There are 21 U.S. military bases across Germany, with the largest presence at Stuttgart, headquarters of United States European Command (EUCOM) and US Africa Command, and Ramstein, headquarters of US Air Force operations in Europe.
It was home to some 5,000 U.S.-made tanks during the Cold War of 1989. But it’s now its permanent residence.
One armored brigade is temporarily deployed by the Army on a nine month rotation. A typical armored brigade is made up of 90 M-1 tanks and 130 Bradley fighting vehicles plus around 18 M-109 self-propelled howitzers.
There is one problem. Europe’s old bridges might not be ready to support the M-1 Abrams tank. For these large vehicles to pass, the Army has struggled to find more armored bridgelayers.
Since 1980, the M-1 Abrams is in service in war zones. The Bradley fighting vehicle (a heavy-armed troop transporter and heavily armored troop transporter) fires at enemy lines in order to cover. A 30-ton Howitzer can strike targets as far away as 19 miles.
NATO maintains a total of 130 tanks in its territory, which includes the 90 U.S. tanks. However, Russia had approximately 760 tanks close to NATO’s Baltic members, before it launched recent aggression.
Ukraine borders four NATO nations: Poland Slovakia Hungary Hungary Romania.
Italy is home to the 2nd highest U.S. military presence in Europe. It has 12,436 soldiers, 4742 Air Force, 34997 Navy, and 4,081 Army troops. The Sixth Fleet headquarters, also known as the US Naval Forces Europe Africa-Africa is located in Naples.
Aviano AFB is the home of two U.S. F-16 fighter-jet squadrons. Air-to-air combat aircraft, the F-16 is used extensively by over 25 military air forces.
The United States has 9,576 troops in Great Britain. Most of them are Air Force members, but there is a small number of other service members.
Spain currently has 34323 U.S. troops, Belgium 1,143, Greece 4,292, Portugal 429 and 259 respectively, while Romania has only 132. Few other countries have more than 100 U.S. soldiers.
In Ukraine, more than 150 U.S. Military Advisors have worked at an Lviv training facility for the past several years. This includes Special Operations troops, mostly Army Green Berets and National Guard trainers of Florida’s 53rd Intry Brigade Combat team.
The U.S. plans to quickly move its military trainers from Ukraine in the event of a Russian invasion, but it is possible that some American troops could remain to support Kyiv officials or provide direct assistance, according to a U.S. official.
However, about 6000 U.S. troops have been deployed on a rotational basis to Eastern Europe, with 4,000 currently in Poland.
Sixth Fleet is the U.S.’s largest fleet, with approximately 175 fighter aircraft and 40 warships. European Command headquarters are in Germany.
Biden could send between 1,000 to 5,000 troops to NATO countries like Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia that border Russian territory.
If security conditions worsen, troop numbers can be raised to up to 50,000 with the support of new deployments by ships and planes.
The American troops would not be deployed to Ukraine directly, and Biden is believed to be reluctant to join another conflict after his disasterous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
The Pentagon on Monday announced that the Biden administration has ordered 8,500 U.S. troops in the United States to be ready for deployment to Eastern Europe.
Since 1980, the 68-ton M-1 Abrams is in service in war zones.
Aviano air base is home to 2 U.S. F-16 fighter-jet squadrons. Twenty-five air force forces use the F-16 as a common air-to-air fighter jet.
A Russian rocket-launcher fired in December during Russian military drills close to Orenburg in The Urals. The Kremlin is keeping the U.S., its allies and other countries guessing as it tries to solve the most serious Russia-West security problem since the Cold War. Tens of thousands are positioned in Ukraine.
NATO Response Force includes approximately 40,000 international troops on land, water, and maritime.
John Kirby, Defense Department spokesperson, stated that this conference was about “getting people ready for the future.” According to Kirby, the bulk of troops would come from the ground.
He stated that they were ready to stand by in the case NATO activates its NATO Response Force (NRF), or in the face of a “deteriorating security environment”.
NATO also announced Monday its intention to send additional fighter jets and ships to Eastern Europe as a counter to Russia’s expanding presence.
Vladimir Putin deployed more than 100,000 troops to the Ukrainian frontier, while Blinken last week warned that Russia was capable of doubling that figure in a matter of days.
This drill will occur 150 miles off Ireland’s South West Coast. It comes amid the increase in troops at the border with Ukraine, amid concerns of war in Europe
Denmark has sent a frugitive to the Baltic Sea in an effort to increase deterrence and it is also ready to send four F-16 fighter planes to Lithuania. Spain has plans to deploy ships in order to be part of NATO’s naval forces. They also plan to send four F-16 fighter planes to Lithuania.
France said that it would send troops to Romania, and the Netherlands plans to send two F-35 fighters from Bulgaria to them in April.
NATO’s announcement was made after Biden had indicated that he would consider sending as much as 50,000 troops in case of security problems. These were backed up by new deployments ship and plane.
Since late December, the Air Force has been regularly flying RC-135 Rivet Joint electronic-eavesdropping planes over Ukraine in order to listen in on Russian ground commanders’ communications, the Times reported. To track Russian troop buildup near Ukraine’s frontier, the Air Force also operates ground surveillance flights withE-8 JSTARS.
Spy plane missions are designed to detect any evidence that Russia may be planning to deploy nuclear weapons along the Ukraine-Russia border. Russian officials had warned of this possibility.
Ukraine’s Defense Minister praised Sunday’s arrival from the U.S. a second cargo of military aide.
“The second bird is in Kyiv!” tweeted Oleksii Reznikov. We have more than 80 tonnes of weapons for Ukraine to improve its defense capability, thanks to our American friends! But this isn’t the end.
On a conference call with reporters Sunday evening, a senior State Department official warned that that ‘military action by Russia could come at any time’ and urged Americans who wished to leave Ukraine to do so soon.