U.S. Army helicopters reach Germany for NATO-support operation

Feb. 15 (UPI) -- The U.S. Department of Defense said 49 U.S. Army helicopters, as well as trucks and other equipment, reached Germany as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve in response to Russian aggression in Europe.

On Tuesday, the U.S. Defense Department said the equipment, including UH-60 Black Hawk and CH-47F Chinook helicopters, belonging to the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade arrived by ship at Germany's Port of in Bremerhaven on Saturday.

The equipment will be delivered to staging bases for a nine-month rotation to train with NATO allies in eastern Europe. Helicopters will fly to various areas in Europe, while other equipment will be moved by rail and road.

An additional 20 helicopters are scheduled to arrive next week.

U.S. Army Maj. Gen. Duane Gamble said a "large proportion of this brigade will go to Katterbach and Illesheim, Germany."

Under Operation Atlantic Resolve, the United States has deployed troops in Europe that will train in Poland, Germany, Bulgaria, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Slovakia until November as a show of force to directly respond to what the alliance sees as increased Russian aggression, primarily the country's intervention in Ukraine.

"OAR was designed to reassure European allies in light of Russia's invasion in Ukraine," the U.S. Defense Department said in a statement.

"The arrival of the 10th Combat [Aviation] Brigade adds to our highly capable joint team," U.S. Army Gen. Curtis M. Scaparrotti, commander of U.S. European Command, said in a statement. "This deployment is another great opportunity to strengthen strategic partnerships with our NATO allies and to build together our capacity, capability and interoperability."

U.S. soldiers will perform medical transport and aviation operations to improve joint operations with NATO allies.

"Through a logistics effort unseen in decades, OAR deployments continue to exceed all expectations," U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Paul Verrastro said in a statement. "The rapid and responsive effort by ships, rail, strategic airlift and all those involved continue to highlight the speed at which we can deploy to Europe."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story described Operation Atlantic Resolve as a NATO operation. It is a U.S.-funded operation intended to support NATO.