The top Army commander in Europe already has a brigade’s worth of tanks and equipment to deter Russia from attacking NATO allies, but said he lacks aviation capabilities that the National Guard could provide through an expanded role on the continent.
Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, commander of U.S. Army Europe, foresees rotational units of Army Guard and Reserve soldiers that will help allow the Army’s 30,000 soldiers in Europe achieve the same effects as the Cold War-era force of 300,000. Among other needed capabilities those units will rotate in with helicopters that speed the movement of troops to crisis hot spots, he said.
“I believe we’re looking at an increase in our aviation capability, but it’s going to be rotational,” Hodges said. “The Department of Defense is working very hard to resource us with rotational forces as well as Guard and Reserve. Aviation would be right at the top. And then, there’s others — you know, there’s never enough engineers, you never have enough artillery. But aviation would be at the top.”
A request for forces (RFF) has been filed asking the Defense Department to for aviation support in Europe, Hodges said. “Getting aviation is really important to us,” he said. “I’m an infantry soldier. I love aviation. It’s such an important enabler.”
Hodges has offered National Guard units the opportunity to bring their own equipment, including helicopters and other aviation assets, along with them on their rotational deployments.
“What I have offered to the Guard, for example, is I said, “If the Guard wants to put equipment in Europe, which I would love, we could put that in, add that to the EAS sets also,” Hodges said. “So take advantage of that.”
An operational needs statement for increased lethality on Stryker wheeled combat vehicles was supported by both the Army and Congress. It will allow for upgrades from a 20mm gun to a 30mm gun on some of the Strykers based in Europe.
Hodges already has a brigade’s worth of armored vehicles and other equipment has been stationed throughout Europe for use by a rotational Army force and maintenance facilities for the gear are nearing completion.
“We now have an entire brigade–armor brigade of equipment. It’s back on the ground in Europe,” Hodges said Wednesday during a press conference at the Pentagon. “ It’s going to stay there, so even when the unit goes home, the equipment will stay in Europe.”
That equipment is called the European Activity Set (EAS) that was established as a direct result of Russia’s expansionism in Ukraine and general saber rattling of late along NATO’s eastern flank. It amounts to 1,300 vehicles that include about 240 tanks, Bradleys and Paladin howitzers and additional support equipment.
The EAS and soldiers stationed in Europe will be distributed in eastern European NATO allied nations and stored and maintained at a handful of depots that are nearing completion in the region. Maintenance facilities, creatively called EAS sites, in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Bulgaria should be completed by the end of 2016, “ideally by September,” Hodges said. The sites in Lithuania, Romania and Bulgaria already are complete.
“Those were the three places where we were first able to get the maintenance contracts out and get it all done,” he said. “The remainder will be completed over the course of the coming year.”
When 1st Brigade, 3rd Division wraps up its current rotation, some of its equipment is going to be left behind at the three completed facilities, Hodges said. The rest will be left in Germany until another brigade rotates to Europe in April and trains with the equipment through the summer. When that brigade rotates out in September, the equipment will be distributed to all the completed facilities.