Reduction of US troops in Europe. NATO's grand base project appears to be in jeopardy
In the spring of 2024, the expansion of the air base began Mihail Kogalniceanu in Romania. In terms of scale, it is the largest project implemented on NATO's eastern flank. The Romanian government invested over EUR 2.5 billion in the project. In an area of 3 thousand hectares, new runways and hangars for aircraft, warehouses, barracks and residential buildings for the families of soldiers serving at the base are to be built. In addition, it is planned to build new road infrastructure as well as schools, kindergartens, shops and cinemas – all the infrastructure necessary for a comfortable life for the base's 10,000 staff and their families. When the project began, approximately 5,000 were stationed in Romania. US soldiers and they were primarily supposed to constitute the base's staff.
In addition, it was planned to relocate some of the forces deployed at the Ramstein base in Germany. However, since last year, the US has begun to reduce the number of its forces deployed on the European continent, so in… Ultimately, only one thousand American soldiers will remain in Romania. Almost half are personnel of the anti-missile defense base in Deveselu, similar to the one in Redzikowo in Poland.
A blow also for Poland
The latest reports indicate that Washington plans to withdraw most of the contingent deployed at the currently expanded base in Mihail Kogalniceanu. It is not known what the US share in financing the investment was and how many Americans were ultimately to be stationed at the base, but Washington's statements show that the base staff was affected by the reduction.
This calls into question the future of the project to build the largest NATO base on the eastern flank. Further development of the investment will be important information for Poland. A base of this size should be able to secure the functioning of not only the air forces, but also the land forces operating on the eastern flank. The headquarters and most of the forces of the Multinational Division Southeast (MND-SE) are located in Romania, the Multinational Division Northeast (MND-NE) in Poland and an American brigade combat group, and among others, for these operational associations, the base will be a key logistics hub.
The actual willingness of Western countries to get involved in the defense of the eastern flank will be determined, among others, by: assessed after the further implementation of the expansion in Romania will proceed.
In the case of the Americans, we can take it for granted that the presence of their army on the eastern flank will only be rotational, which confirms Washington's withdrawal from the project of permanent presence of their forces at the Mihail Kogalniceanu base.
