Gallery: Heavy equipment of incoming US company arrives in Estonia
The personnel of the incoming U.S. company as well as its heavy equipment, including tanks and infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs), has arrived in Estonia.
The heavy equipment of the U.S. company reached Estonia and was unloaded at the railway station in Tapa on Monday, spokespeople for the 1st Infantry Brigade of the Estonian Defence Forces told BNS. The U.S. troops arrived on Friday already.
The U.S. company-sized unit of the 173rd Airborne Brigade of the U.S. Army currently stationed at Tapa is to leave Estonia in the second half of February as it is replaced by Charlie Company, 1st Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division of the U.S. Army. The newly-arrived unit is armored with four M1A2 Abrams tanks and 15 Bradley fighting vehicles.
The 68th Armor Regiment is part of the U.S. Army's combat teams to be deployed to NATO's eastern flank this year.
At the NATO Summit in Warsaw last July, members of the alliance decided to deploy four multi-national battalions of one thousand personnel each to countries on the alliance's eastern flank. The NATO contingents in Poland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will be led by the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Germany, respectively. In addition, th U.S. announced that an armored brigade normally based in Colorado would also be stationed in Poland.
The Battle Company of the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment of the 173rd Airborne Brigade arrived in Estonia in September. Their rotation in the northernmost Baltic state will conclude at the beginning of February.
Editor: Editor: Aili Vahtla
Source: BNS