US Forces Exercising in Europe in the Way Unseen Since Cold War

US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said that Washington is ‘exercising’ long redundant muscles by readying US troops to support NATO against a phantom “Russian menace.”

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The continuous rotational deployments of US forces in Europe will be the type of Trans-Atlantic exercises that have not been practiced since the Cold War, US Deputy Secretary of Defense Bob Work said on Thursday.

"We are exercising muscles that we have not done since the Cold War, being able to send US forces across the Atlantic in case they are needed to support our NATO allies," Work stated at the Norwegian-American Defense Conference.

A major component of the change in US posture is the logistical exercise of rotating American forces and their equipment from home ports fully across the Atlantic to operate with NATO allies, Work explained.

In its growing efforts to counter Russia in eastern Europe, the United States will be deploying a full multicomponent division to Europe after years of troop drawdowns on the continent.

By 2017, the United States will have an airborne brigade, a Stryker armored personnel carrier brigade, and a rotational armored brigade deployed to support NATO forces in Europe.