U.S. Marine Corps troops with tanks will be sent in Bulgaria to response on situation with Ukraine 12606151

Defence & Security News - United States
 
U.S. Marine Corps troops with tanks will be sent in Bulgaria to response on situation with Ukraine.
A U.S. Marine Corps unit equipped with tanks, light armored vehicles and artillery will be sent to Bulgaria this fall as part of American plans to help reassure NATO allies worried by Russia's involvement in Ukraine, a top commander said Thursday, June 25, 2015.
     
A U.S. Marine Corps unit equipped with tanks, light armored vehicles and artillery will be sent to Bulgaria this fall as part of American plans to help reassure NATO allies worried by Russia's involvement in Ukraine, a top commander said Thursday, June 25, 2015. U.S. soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, ''Cottonbalers'', who are deployed in Latvia, take part in a training exercise with M1A2 ''Abrams'' tank in Adazi military base, Latvia, May 7, 2015.
     
As part of the European Reassurance Initiative, about 155 Marines with the Black Sea Rotational Force will conduct six-month rotational deployments to Novo Selo Training Area, Bulgaria. The rotations will begin by early September and at least three are planned over an 18 month period.
 

Brig. Gen. Norman Cooling, deputy commander of Marine Corps Europe and Africa, said the Marines will be equipped with four Abrams main battle tanks, six light armored vehicles and three howitzers. He spoke as NATO defense ministers met Thursday in Brussels.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said this week that more American military equipment would be positioned in Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and Germany as NATO seeks to bolster its forces in Eastern Europe.

The ultimate goal in introducing the combined arms company, like other measures sought by NATO and U.S. European Command, is to assure U.S. allies and protect their territorial integrity, said Capt. Richard Ulsh, a spokesman for Marine Corps Europe and Africa.

The U.S. already regularly conducts maneuvers with allied countries. In Romania on Thursday, U.S Navy Adm. Mark E. Ferguson III, a top NATO commander, said recent exercises have shown that the alliance is capable of training and operating across northern and Eastern Europe.

He also noted that NATO successfully relocated the Allied Joint Force Command temporarily from Italy to Romania for exercises this month involving 1,000 troops from 21 nations, as the alliance continues to hone its ability to react to Russia's moves in Ukraine or other security challenges.