NATO to build installation for US Army in Poland.

The confirmation was announced by NATO on March 23. The Wall Street Journal says this installation, which will cost 260 million dollars, will be located in Powidz (200 km west of Warsaw). It will house armored vehicles, ammunition and weapons for one brigade.

U.S. Army soldiers from P Troop, 4th Squadron, 2nd Cavalry Regiment, pass in review on their Stryker armored vehicles during Poland's 2015 Armed Forces Day in Warsaw (Picture source: U.S. Army / Capt. Spencer Garrison)

Construction work on the installation should start this year and is expected to take two years, according to NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg. This move is to consider in the framework of NATO’s increasing defense policy along its Eastern border after Crimea was annexed by Russia, which led to the Ukraine conflict. Tactical units have been deployed in the three Baltic states and Poland. NATO is taking measures to reduce its reaction times in case of a crisis.

The Polish conservative government is working closely with Washington to get an American base set up in Poland. More than 5,000 American soldiers are already stationed there on rotation as part of NATO operations.

In February, as reported by Army Recognition, the Polish government reinforced its military links with the United States by signing a contract for twenty American HIMARS rocket-launchers for 414 million dollars. In March 2018, Poland had bought the American Patriot anti-missile system for 4.75 billion dollars (3.8 billion euro).