More than 200 pieces of equipment from the US Army National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 185th Infantry Regiment, will off-load at the port of Gdynia, Poland, in support of the NATO Enhanced Forward Presence mission.
The operation will take place between January 30 and February 14, and will be followed by the upload of equipment from the 3rd Battalion, 161st Infantry Regiment in preparation for its return to the United States.
The 3-161st is completing a nine-month deployment to Europe in support of NATO’s EFP mission. Both battalions belong to the 81st Stryker Brigade Combat Team which is comprised of units located in Washington, Oregon and California.
The equipment arriving in Gdynia is in support of the EFP Battlegroup-Poland, which is led by the United States, and includes troops from Croatia, Romania and the United Kingdom.
The US Army noted this is a pre-planned, normal rotation of forces and is US Army Europe and Africa’s tenth rotation deployed in support of NATO’s Enhanced Forward Presence.
While routine, the operation comes at a time of heightened tensions in the region, as Russia continues to amass forces and equipment on the border with Ukraine. The standoff has prompted the US and United Kingdom, among other NATO partners, to send military equipment to Ukraine. The UK has sent anti-tank weapon systems while Canada deployed a small contingent of special forces to Kyiv.
The US has so far sent four cargo aircraft with military equipment to Ukraine, with the last one carrying small arms and ammunition. More deliveries are scheduled for next week, according to the US embassy in Ukraine.
