US to establish military Headquarters in Poland, increase presence in Europe

News, US June 30, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

U.S. President Joe Biden announced that his country’s military would increase its presence in the European region to counter the increasing security challenges caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

President Biden, who is currently in Spain participating in the NATO leaders’ summit, held a one-on-one meeting with the NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on June 29. After the meeting, they spoke in a briefing where President Biden stressed the importance of the functionality of the NATO alliance and said that NATO is “needed now more than it has ever been.”

The NATO alliance is going through one a complete overhaul in recent times that has come as a response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. NATO’s new Strategic Plan requires a significant increase in its military might across Europe.

The alliance plans to increase its number of troops from 40,000 to 300,000 in the coming few months. U.S. military plans to provide troops and military assistance to support NATO’s new strategy in Europe.

President Biden announced that the U.S. military would establish a permanent headquarters in Poland for the 5th Army Corps, while U.S. warships would arrive in Spain and more fighter jets would be deployed in the UK and Romania in order to strengthen NATO’s military readiness strategy.

*^{NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg (R) welcomed U.S. President Joe Biden to the NATO Summit in Madrid on June 29, 2022. (Image Credit: NATO)}*

President Biden also said that the NATO alliance is committed to “defend every inch” of its territory. He further added that “an attack against one is an attack against all.”

The U.S. President also shed light on the details of his military plans in Europe by pointing out the following measures.

– At least four to six U.S. naval destroyers would be stationed in Spain.

– A rotational brigade would be deployed in Romania consisting of 3,000 fighters and additional combat teams consisting of at least 2,000 personnel.

– Two squadrons of modern F-35 stealth fighter jets would be deployed in the UK.

– Addition air defense and other capabilities would be stationed in Germany and Italy.

The Madrid Summit 2022 also marks a historical milestone as two more European countries, Sweden and Finland, have been formally invited to join the NATO alliance after receiving unanimous ratification from all 30 NATO member states. This came after weeks of negotiations with Turkey, the only NATO member state that had opposed Sweden and Finland’s bid to join the alliance.

President Biden described Finland and Sweden’s accession into NATO as ‘exactly’ what Russian President Vladimir Putin did not want. He said that Russia’s strategy to invade Ukraine on the ground of NATO’s enlargement has backfired, as the NATO alliance is stronger and more united than ever.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that Finland and Sweden had been formally invited to join the military alliance, describing it as the “fastest accession process ever”, and said he expected the swift progress to continue.