U.S. military vehicles parading near Russia's border in Narva, Estonia on Feb. 24. (Estonian Defense Forces)
David Axe, National Interest: Bad News: The U.S. Army Is Out-Gunned In Europe (Compared to Russia)
In 2016 RAND war-gamed a Russian invasion of the Baltics. In RAND's scenario, the Russian forces quickly overrun lightly-armed NATO forces. The Western alliance quickly deploys helicopters and air-mobile troops to confront the Russian advance. But NATO tanks are too slow to arrive.
A four-person vehicle crew with the U.S. Army's 2nd Cavalry Regiment in Europe won a personal victory in early February 2019 when they beat out other crews to claim their squadron's "top gun" prize.
But the crew's achievement underscores an uncomfortable fact for the U.S. Army as it struggles to match Russia's own military build-up in Europe.
The crew of the M1134 Anti-Tank Guided Missile Stryker operates the heaviest fighting vehicle that the U.S. Army permanently keeps on the continent. Meanwhile Russia has grown and upgraded its own forces along the eastern flank of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
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WNU Editor: The U.S. Army currently has around 26,000 soldiers scattered throughout Europe (Wikipedia). So yes ... they are more than just outgunned. They are not a factor at all.
10 comments:
Never fear, the German army has our back...
The US left because the Cold War was over. I have not heard any Europeans asking for the return of the US Army.
Obama withdrew all US heavy divisions from Europe and threw a party to mark that occasion. Putting them back was always going to be tougher than pulling them out.
The US Army will not deploy in numbers again. Look at the Dems running for President, none have a strong interest in rebuilding American military for expeditionary fighting. Merkel and Macron see the writing on the wall, American guarantees for Europe are only devaluing as time goes on.
Anon@3:50. You haven't been listening. Poland last year offered the US $2 billion to station an armored division on Polish soil. Their PM came to DC last year and publicly begged the US to take up the offer. The Baltic states are also begging for more US troops. Norway keeps asking for more Marines to come train in Norway.
Anon@3:54 - Oops, my bad. I was thinking the traditional/central states like Germany. Good points.
Trump is just switching the business model. Instead of influence peddling by giving stuff for free (1950-2016), he basically asks Europe to pay for it or put up more money for own defence. Which they have. 100 billion and Trump was directly credited for it. Same outside Europe. Look at south Korea just agreeing to pay a cool billion. It's a few dozen billion here, another 100 billion there, the 150bn Saudi arms deal that the WaPo and all of the left wing media wanted to be dropped because of the assassinated guy ..it's understandable to disagree with his stance on the last point - I might too - but hot damn he knows how to make the alliance stronger and us economy better. China is way behind all of a sudden. He did that in 2 years ffs. I hope more people vote for him next time, this guy is incredible
I talked with American troops in Germany during the cold war. When asked about their purpose should the Warsaw Pact attack they responded "speed bump." Even at the height of the Cold War they knew they were outgunned. No meaningful change.
Well, it's not just a speed bump. Sure, that's one aspect of it. But more importantly, they are a deterrent. Killing US soldiers - especially on European soil - would be the ultimate act of declaring war. Russia knows that if they were to kill a thousand US soldiers, the tactical low yield nukes would start to fly making any numbers game pointless. The low yield nukes would be ideal to take out a tit-for-tat number. You kill thousand from us? Here's thousand of yours pulverised and a percentage on top because you started. That's basically it. If Russia were to respond to that by greater force, so would the US until both sides are dead or one stopped. That's MAD. Crazy but kept us safe for some time, I guess
Or, Russia kills a small number of Americans and blocks the U.S. From a reforger type operation. Nukes? Not likely. Russia wins.
America First. If you actually believe Trump Europe is on its own except for 26,000 speed bumps.
You do realize that the earth is round and that air currents will carry radioactive materials to the USA? THEY GO YOU GLOW. Think about it.
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