Zu den ohnehin bereits 4.500 in Polen stationierten US-Soldaten sollen nun weitere 1.000 hinzukommen. Die eigentlich interessante Nachricht dazu findet sich bei Breaking Defense, nämlich dass diese Truppen die Logistik für die schnelle Stationierung von bis zu 20.000 Soldaten bereitstellen sollen. Erstmals genutzt werden soll diese Infrastruktur bein einem Großmanöver im kommenden Jahr, „Defender 2020“, die als größte Übung seit Ende des Kalten Krieges geplant zu sein scheint: „The new defense pact with Poland does more than add 1,000 US troops to the 4,500 already in the frontline NATO ally. It also lays the logistical groundwork for quickly deploying a heavy armored division, some 12,000 to 20,000 troops, for a crisis or a major exercise. […] Not all of this infrastructure will be in place next year, but even the beginnings of it will be helpful for the big wargames. ‘Defender 2020 is a Department of the Army-directed, USAREUR [US Army Europe]-led exercise designed to demonstrate the United States’ ability to rapidly deploy a division [emphasis ours] to the European theater,’ an official Army website reads. […] Is Defender 2020 a modern incarnation of the Cold War REFORGER exercises, which at their peak moved multiple heavy divisions across the Atlantic? ‚It’s REFORGER-like,‘ [Army Undersecretary Ryan] McCarthy told reporters at a recent roundtable. ‚REFORGER would be larger in scale… but it’s similar in concept.’” (jw)
