US Army training resumes in Europe amid pandemic and the threat of troop cuts – DefenseNews.com

Defense News' Sebastian Sprenger explains why NATO and partner forces are training, despite the pandemic.

COLOGNE, Germany Buoyed by the recent Allied Spirit exercise in Poland, U.S. Army officials in Europe are eyeing a resumption of their training schedule amid the continued danger of the coronavirus and talk in Washington of removing almost 10,000 troops from Germany.

We continue to fight for opportunities to train, Brig. Gen. Christopher Norrie, the head of 7th Army Training Command based at Grafenwhr, Germany, said in an interview. That is, so long as relevant health protocols can be followed, he added.

The exercise at the Drawsko Pomorskie Training Area in northwestern Poland, which ended on Friday, served as something of a trial balloon on whether live training can be done at all. The drill was an offspring of the larger Defender Europe-20 training campaign that had to be curtailed somewhat when the novel coronavirus outbreak swept through Europe in March.

There is some momentum that we expect to build coming out of Allied Spirit in preparation for the remainder of the summer, Norrie told Defense News. All of the resources are aligned, the commands in place.

The general idea of these exercises is to demonstrate a U.S. commitment to Europe vis-a-vis Russia, which officials here believe is feeling out the limits of NATOs resolve on the continent.

In that context, the river-crossing drill takes on a relevant strategic flavor. The area in Poland, a critical strip of land connecting Western Europe to the Baltic states, is riddled with rivers and lakes.

Sign up for our Early Bird Brief Get the defense industry's most comprehensive news and information straight to your inbox

Subscribe

Enter a valid email address (please select a country) United States United Kingdom Afghanistan Albania Algeria American Samoa Andorra Angola Anguilla Antarctica Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Aruba Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bermuda Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Bouvet Island Brazil British Indian Ocean Territory Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad Chile China Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia Comoros Congo Congo, The Democratic Republic of The Cook Islands Costa Rica Cote D'ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Faroe Islands Fiji Finland France French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-bissau Guyana Haiti Heard Island and Mcdonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macao Macedonia, The Former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Pitcairn Poland Portugal Puerto Rico Qatar Reunion Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Helena Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Pierre and Miquelon Saint Vincent and The Grenadines Samoa San Marino Sao Tome and Principe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Georgia and The South Sandwich Islands Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Svalbard and Jan Mayen Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand Timor-leste Togo Tokelau Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States United States Minor Outlying Islands Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Viet Nam Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, U.S. Wallis and Futuna Western Sahara Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe

Thanks for signing up!

By giving us your email, you are opting in to the Early Bird Brief.

Whats more, the exercise saw a fictitious enemy composed of Polish and U.S. troops mount a defensive strategy aimed pushing soldiers back from the body of water at center of the event, Zly Leg Lake.

Elements of the 1st Cavalry Division, based at Fort Hood, Texas, also participated in the event, by way of a data link through the Joint Multinational Readiness Center at the Hohenfels Training Area in Bavaria.

The fact that we would commit to doing this live in such a demanding, relevant environment against such a determined opposing force is a very tangible expression of our commitment not only to our own organization and our own formations, but also in support of our NATO partners and allies throughout Europe, Norrie said.

Germany is something of a hub for U.S. Army training and staging in Europe, though that status is now in question given a push by U.S. President Donald Trump to move 9,500 troops from the country to Poland.

Little has trickled down about exactly what is in store, however. Kay Bailey Hutchison, the U.S. representative to NATO, said no final decisions have been made. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, meanwhile, told reporters he had no information about how and when the Trump administration wants to proceed.

Military leaders, too, are still in the dark. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian, the head of Air Forces in Europe told reporters last week that he had received no instructions toward a drawdown from Germany.

As a one-star officer, the current drawdown debate is above his pay grade, Norrie admitted. There is no change in mission to provide lethal, credible, ready combat formations in support of U.S. Army Europe and U.S. European Command, and we continue to focus on that, he said.

In creating the command's training curriculum, the officials study reports of adversary activity worldwide, including tactics in the domains of hybrid warfare, countering drones, and electronic warfare, according to Norrie.

One relatively new tack is aimed at reducing units' electromagnetic footprint in the field. That includes eliminating vulnerabilities stemming from the use of personal electronic equipment like phones or smart watches.

Those lessons partly stem from reports from eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed separatists were able to track Ukrainian forces through their communications activity, directing drone-aided long-range fires at the formations.

Original post:

US Army training resumes in Europe amid pandemic and the threat of troop cuts - DefenseNews.com

Related Posts

Comments are closed.