US and Poland sign agreement defining equipment staging locations 40810153

Defence & Security News - (Poland, USA)
 
US and Poland sign agreement defining equipment staging locations
The United States and Poland have signed an agreement defining the locations where the US hardware will be staged in the near future. The agreement comes in the wake of the crisis in Ukraine. The agreement comes on top of the one related to the status of the US forces in Poland, signed in 2010.
     
US and Poland sign agreement defining equipment staging locations
US and Polish soldiers train together (Source: Polish MoD)
     

The US military hardware will be staged at shared locations and facilities of the Polish Armed Forces, according to the Minister of Defence, Tomasz Siemoniak. More specifically, equipment will be deployed in the airbase in Lask, the Drawsko Pomorskie training ground, and the military bases in Skwierzyna, Chozccznie, and Ciechanowie. Some of these bases are ready to accept the new, while others will require further investment. Poland is expected to receive a total of USD1 billion in US military investments, as the minister stated.

Funds will come from the US budget, based on the agreement, which also seems to be opening the way for the creation of a US airbase in Poland. The decision to stage military hardware in Europe was taken last Spring, in an effort to reduce the logistical time. While military personnel will be on rotation, their equipment will be stored in each of the Eastern European and Baltic countries. Namely, Lithuania, Latvia, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary.