US Army Europe To Preposition Tanks as Ukraine Conflict Rages-the latest intel

In the next few weeks,US Army Europe is sending a survey team to Europe to find suitable storage sites for some 220 tanks and other armoured vehicles,according to its commander,Lieutenant General Ben Hodges.In the next few weeks,the teams will survey sites in Estonia,Latvia,Lithuania,Poland,Romania and Bulgaria.A heavy brigade of around 3,000 US troops are to be rotated through Europe in 2015.The Army has upped its prepositioning plans from battalion up to brigade-size European Activity Sets to support the growing numbers of US troops rotating through Europe on their missions.
The ultimate EAS will include the full armoured brigade combat team;three maneuver battalions;a reconnaissance squadron;artillery,engineers and so on.That will amount to around 220 armoured vehicles,tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.It should all be in place by year's end.The NATO allies in Eastern Europe all want these vehicles badly,GEN Hodges said.An obvious reason-they're a deterrent aspect.Although some of the tanks will be stationed in Germany,USAEUR really wants to station some in Southeastern Europe;some in the Baltics;some in Poland.
The 1st Brigade Combat Team,3rd Infantry Division,will be rotating to Europe to deter Russian aggression,reassure allies in the East and strengthen training partnerships.GEN Hodges cited hundreds of armoured vehicles,rocket launchers and unmanned aerial vehicles that are being provided by Russia and employed by either the Russians themselves or their proxies in Eastern Ukraine.The sky is full of Russian UAVs and they are immediately finding all the Ukrainian formations,and the Ukrainians are suffering huge casualties from artillery and rocket barrages.
This concern was echoed by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on 24 January,who said fighting in Eastern Ukraine has sharply escalated,with indications of a large-scale offensive by Russian-backed separatists at multiple locations within Donestk and Luhansk Oblasts,as well as against the city of Mariupol.The shelling of residential areas in the city of Mariupol from separatist-controlled territory has cost the lives of at least 20 civilians and injured many more.
For several months,Mr.Stoltenberg continued,we have seen the presence of Russian forces in Eastern Ukraine,as well as a substantial increase in Russian heavy equipment such as tanks,artillery and advanced air-defence systems.Russian troops in Eastern Ukraine are supporting these offensive operations with command-and-control systems,air-defence systems with advanced surface-to-air missiles,unmanned aerial systems,advanced multiple-rocket launcher systems,and electronic warfare systems.