U.S. Army has to borrow helicopters, weapons for NATO exercise
The drawdown of U.S. forces in Europe, combined with cuts to the U.S. defense budget, has forced the U.S. Army, Europe to borrow weapons and equipment from its NATO allies in order to participate in the continent’s largest NATO exercise in 13 years.
The number of U.S. military personnel permanently based in Europe has shrunk to 30,000 from a peak of 300,000 at the height of the Cold War. The last of the Army’s European-based tank units pulled out three years ago, and last spring the Army announced it would relocate 54 combat helicopters to the United States.
“I don’t have bridges, I don’t have the trucks that can carry tanks, we don’t have enough helicopters to do what we need to do,” Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the Army’s commanding general in Europe, told The New York Times. “Practicing with British helicopters here is an essential part of it. Using British and German bridges, using Hungarian air...
