The US builds a new camp to contain Russia in Europe
Recently, the US military deployed a combat battalion in Lithuania and announced that it would accelerate the pace of adjustments to European ground, sea and air forces. This deployment is close to the border of Belarus, which has attracted great attention from Belarus and Russia. Since the beginning of this year, affected by the spread of the new crown pneumonia epidemic in Europe, NATO led by the United States has once compressed military training activities in the region. Today, the adjustment of the US military’s strength is moving eastward, and through measures such as dynamic deployment and flexible organization of large-scale military exercises, it maintains its military influence in the European region and its strategic squeeze against Russia.
Eastward shift of troops to plan a new layout
The Pentagon previously announced the largest adjustment plan for US troops stationed in Europe since the end of the Cold War. The plan is mainly to improve the new military layout in the frontier regions of Europe on the basis of the substantial reduction of US troops stationed in Germany. The three countries of Belgium, Britain, Italy, Poland, Romania, and the Baltic Sea have become the new fulcrum of the US military map in Europe.
In addition to the deployment of combat battalions in Lithuania, the United States announced in August that it would send 1,000 additional ground combat troops to Poland, and initiated the deployment of F-16 fighter jets and KC-135 tankers to seven airports in Povez. Plan; withdraw part of the garrison from Norway, but it will improve the combat readiness training level of marines in extremely cold weather and mountain environments, and strengthen their deterrence in the Arctic.
While stepping up its deployment, the U.S. Army continues to promote the rotation of permanent troops under the framework of the "European Deterrence Initiative" to ensure that combat forces can quickly adapt to the requirements of the European battlefield. Among them, the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division has completed the task handover and deployed in Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and other countries; the 101st Airborne Division also replaced the combat aviation brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division, deployed in Nuremberg, Germany.
Russian media commented that the US military is launching a more compact force adjustment deployment in the European region. In the context of the overall reduction in scale, moving closer to neighboring Russia such as Poland is intended to improve the frontier military layout, continue to squeeze Russia and its allies, and seize the military advantage in the so-called competition among major powers.
Frequent military exercises to test new concepts
In recent times, the US military has frequently conducted combat readiness exercises in the European region, and at the same time, the verification of new combat concepts has been a key training content.
The U.S. Air Force has increased its strategic bomber training in Europe under the concept of frontier dynamic deployment operations since April. Among them, from May to August, the bomber task force composed of B-1B and B-52 continued to organize training in the European region through multi-batch formation and short-term intensive methods, including dark night raids and ship-aircraft coordination.
At the end of August, the US Air Force deployed six B-52H bombers to the Fairford Air Force Base in the United Kingdom for short-term forward deployment tasks. Among them, three B-52H bombers crossed directly over the North Pole to demonstrate air power at the Russian gate. The Russian army hurriedly dispatched fighter jets to intercept, and the report stated that "the confrontation exceeded 40 minutes." The U.S. Air Force stated that the operational concept of dynamic deployment has increased the unpredictability of air-based combat forces' tactical operations and increased the effect of strategic deterrence against Russia.
The US Army is testing its crisis response capabilities in exercises such as "Alliance Spirit" and "Cross Sabre-2020". During the "Alliance Spirit" exercise, the armored units of the US Army quickly delivered to Poland, using pre-built equipment to carry out frontier combat missions. In the "Cross Sabre-2020" exercise, the US Army's 173rd Brigade, with the support of seven countries including Lithuania, Romania and Ukraine, quickly completed a joint ground operation shuttle between the two training fields. Russian media said that the US Army has made frontier rapid response operations its focus of operations in the European direction.
Winning allies to create a new camp
According to reports, the United States is building a more centripetal new camp in Europe through military adjustments and deployment and joint exercises with allies. Among them, Poland, Spain, Romania, and the Baltic countries have become the "pawns" of the United States in accelerating NATO's eastward expansion and increasing its containment power against Russia.
Not long ago, the Belarusian State Television released a recording showing that the United States and Polish government officials discussed further sanctions against Russia around the poisoning of the Russian opposition leader, in order to "distract Russia from interfering in the current situation in Belarus." Some analysts say that the new camp that the United States is trying to build still takes as its main goal to deal with competition among major powers, and it will strengthen deepening cooperation among allies in many fields.
Specifically, in the recent period, the US Space Force Command has reached a number of information sharing agreements with the Portuguese, British and Spanish Ministry of Defense to cooperate on space situational awareness, the formation of the International Aerospace Alliance, and the construction of aerospace dynamics algorithm library. The layout of the article to seize the leading power of military operations in space. The United States and Norway and other countries have carried out research and development of enhanced polar communication system projects, and have conducted red-blue confrontation exercises with Sweden and other countries. During this period, F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to simulate air combat with MiG-29 and Su-27 fighter jets in preparation for future military activities in the Arctic. Invest 5.5 billion U.S. dollars to jointly develop and build a new generation of frigates with Italy and Finland, and close military ties with allies through technical cooperation. Analysts said that the continuous deepening of U.S.-European defense cooperation provides a platform for the U.S. military to intervene in European affairs and show the military presence in the region, which deserves vigilance from many parties.