Breaking news
US Army brings heavy military equipment and troops in Lithuania for training tasks 22310152.
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Defence & Security News - Lithuania
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| US Army brings heavy military equipment and troops in Lithuania for training tasks | |||
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New shift of the rotational U.S. forces in the Baltic States is coming to Lithuania today to begin training with Lithuania’s military. Soldiers with the 3rd Battalion, 36th Infantry Regiment, U.S. Army, are bringing M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, Bradley armoured vehicles, and other heavy and logistical military materiel, the Lithuanian MoD announced yesterday, Oct. 22, 2015.
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 US Army's M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks during military drills in Lithuania |
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A company-sized division with support units will be deployed in Lithuania, the total of approx. 70 vehicles, including 5 M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks and 13 Bradley armoured vehicles.
“Training with military units that allies deploy in Lithuania with various military equipment has already become a routine to Lithuanian soldiers, and that enables us not only to train our military personnel but also to sustain the skills and the readiness we acquire to cooperate with various types of units from allies nations,” Commander of the Lithuanian Land Force Major General Almantas Leika says. The new U.S. rotation including roughly 230 troops is deployed from Coleman Worksite military base in Manheim, Germany. Forward Support Company is deployed together with the rotating forces to ensure logistical provision. Just like military equipment of the previous rotational U.S. forces, the new shift will be based in Rukla, while soldiers of the Forward Support Company will be deployed to the Lithuanian Grand Duke Vytenis Main Support Battalion in Marijampole. Soldiers from the 3rd Battalion of the 36th Infantry Regiment of the U.S. Army, will train with the Lithuanian Grand Duke Algirdas Mechanised Infantry Battalion till the end of December. The shift will also take part in international Exercise Iron Sword 2015 which will begin in Lithuania on November 8. The 3rd Battalion is considered to be one of the younger units in the U.S. Army, however, its military personnel already have huge combat experience from deployments to operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm and Iraqi Freedom. The outgoing 7th shift of the rotational U.S. forces from Company D (Delta) of the 173rd Airborne Brigade is already concluding its training with King Mindaugas Hussar Battalion. The shift also honed joint actions with Birute Battalion based in Alytus. The United States and other NATO allies have been sending soldiers to train in Lithuania and other Baltic States since spring 2014 in response to the changed security situation after the Russian annexation of Crimea and to implement the NATO assurance measures agreed at the NATO Summit in Wales. The United States launched Operation Atlantic Resolve and began sending rotational forces (troops and equipment) to the three Baltic States and Poland in spring 2014 in response to the security situation changed by the Russian aggression Ukraine. Also, roughly 250 soldiers from Belgium and Luxembourg are currently taking part in an exercise in Lithuania. Troops from Denmark, Germany, Hungary and Portugal have already been deployed to train joint actions with Lithuanian soldiers as part of the NATO assurance measures since spring 2014. |
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