Gallery: US military vehicles stationed to Estonia
The first batch of US tanks and armored vehicles was transported to Estonia on Sunday.
The shipment was originally announced by the American defense secretary Ashton Carter during his visit to Estonia on Victory Day in June 23.
Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Poland will host heavy military equipment, including 250 tanks, infantry fighting vehicles and self-propelled howitzers. The move is seen as part of the attempt to reassure the American NATO allies in face of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
“We will temporarily stage one armored brigade combat team’s vehicles and associated equipment in countries in central and eastern Europe,” Carter said in June.
The Estonian government has allocated an extra 40 million euros to improve the conditions for allied troops in Estonia, in addition to annual defense budget.
Altogether, 40 pieces of military equipment were delivered by rail via Latvia, including four M1A2 Abrams tanks and ten Bradley armored vehicles. The second batch, including two combat engineer vehicles as well as some operational support equipment, will be shipped to Estonia on October 26.
Editor: S. Tambur