U.S. bases across Europe are building their capacity to temporarily house and screen Afghans fleeing Taliban rule as the Aug. 31 deadline to withdrawal U.S. forces looms. So far, 82,300 people have been airlifted out of Afghanistan since Aug. 14. In a 24-hour period ending ...
USAF F-15s, F-16s, and C-130s are training in Poland in an agile combat employment exercise that comes as Russia has executed a massive buildup on the border with neighboring Ukraine, though U.S. officials say the exercise was long-planned. F-15Es from the 492nd Fighter Squadron at ...
Five hundred more U.S. personnel will be based in Germany starting later this year, in a reversal from previous Pentagon plans to draw troops out of the country under the Trump administration. Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III announced the increase during a visit to ...
Air Force Global Strike Command chief Gen. Timothy M. Ray offered a blunt assessment of the Army’s plan to take over some of the Air Force’s long-range strike mission. “It’s a stupid idea,” he said during an AFA Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies podcast. The ...
U.S. military officials are reaching out to Russian and Ukrainian counterparts as Moscow has sent a buildup of forces to the border between the two countries. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Mark Milley on March 31 talked with his counterparts in both ...
Plans to significantly reduce the U.S. footprint in Germany are now on hold as the new administration reviews the decision and its impacts, the head of U.S. European Command said Feb. 3. In July, then-Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and EUCOM boss Gen. Tod D. ...
U.S. European Command is moving forward with its biggest exercise—expecting about 31,000 personnel from 26 countries—despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but officials are ready to scale back if health concerns require it. The annual Defender Europe exercise will bring together air, land, and sea participants ...
U.S. European Command boss Gen. Tod D. Wolters issued a memo explaining the strategic rationale behind the Pentagon's proposed posture shift within the European theater, and cautioned that any moves will take time to implement. Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper said July 29 the U.S. ...
The end of the fighter mission at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, doesn’t mean the end of the base, 52nd Fighter Wing officials said, as uncertainty over the installation’s future lingers following the Pentagon’s proposed European restructuring announcement. As part of an overall reduction of forces ...
The Pentagon will begin to wind down the U.S. military presence at Germany's Spangdahlem Air Base, pulling out Air Force F-16s and canceling plans to move tankers and special-operations forces to the European hub, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper announced July 29. The decision marks ...