USA specifies military units to be placed in Estonia
Lt. Col. William McNicol of the U.S. Office of Defense Cooperation in Tallinn specified that the United States was planning to move 10 additional tanks and 120 troops to Estonia in 2017. The contribution of other NATO member states would be decided at the NATO summit in Warsaw in July.
Finnish media group Lännen Media had spread the news on Friday that the United States intended to move 500 tanks to the area to guarantee security and stability in the region. ERR News reported.
McNicol said that the unit to be moved to Estonia corresponded to the decision of the U.S. Congress in the matter. It would include 100-120 personnel, ten M1 Abrams tanks, four Bradley vehicles, and armored support vehicles.
According to McNicol, support units will follow. They will be placed wherever needed according to the existing nine-month troop rotation.
The U.S. announced in March that they were planning to add another brigade to their presence in Europe based on the same nine-month rotation. Every brigade arriving would bring its own equipment. A brigade typically comprises of between 4,000 and 4,200 troops.
Estonian defense ministry spokesman Peeter Tali confirmed to ERR that the U.S. would bring one additional heavy armored brigade to Europe, as well as the equipment of brigade, on top of the two brigades that are already stationed here.
Editor: Editor: Dario Cavegn