The deployment of US troops to Europe as part of the Defender-Europe 20 military exercise, which was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, restarted in Poland on Thursday, Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said
WARSAW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th June, 2020) The deployment of US troops to Europe as part of the Defender-Europe 20 military exercise, which was suspended in March due to the coronavirus outbreak, restarted in Poland on Thursday, Polish National Defense Minister Mariusz Blaszczak said.
Defender-Europe 20 was to become the largest deployment of US troops to Europe in 25 years. It was expected that 20,000 servicemen would arrive from the United States, and 9,000 US troops stationed in Europe would join them.
In mid-March, the US European Command (EUCOM) reported that due to the epidemiological situation, the US Defense Department had frozen the troop movement and that soldiers already deployed to Europe for other linked drills would return to the United States. The final stage of Defender-Europe was supposed to be held from April 20 to May 20 in Germany, Poland and the Baltics with the participation of 37,000 troops from 18 countries.
"The epidemic has of course changed our plans, but the main thing is that we swiftly adapted to the existing reality. The Polish army has not lost its combat readiness for a minute," Blaszczak said during the opening ceremony of the drills at the Drawsko Pomorskie training ground in northwestern Poland.
The defense minister went on to thank the US European Command for the fact that US troops joined the exercise despite the ongoing pandemic.
About 6,000 servicemen are participating in Defender-Europe 20 at the Drawsko Pomorskie training ground, including 2,000 from Poland with a total of 100 tanks and over 230 combat vehicles, artillery and missile systems, as well as fighter jets.
The main goal of the drills is to enhance strategic readiness and cooperation with a swift deployment of troops from the United States to Europe, as well as to check host countries' ability to accept allied support.
