“Dubious rationale”: why did the United States supply Europe’s largest batch of ammunition in the last 20 years

The US Air Force delivered a batch of ammunition to Ramstein Air Base in Germany. By volume, it became the largest since the bombing of Yugoslavia during the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

“The 86th Squadron to ensure US Air Force ammunition deployed at Ramstein Air Base in Germany received the largest batch of ammunition in recent history. During October, about 100 containers with various ammunition were delivered to Ramstein, ”the report says on the website of the European Command of the US Armed Forces (EUCOM).

Unprecedented supply volumes were also confirmed by the head of combat support for the 86th Squadron, David Head.

“This is the largest party of its kind since the operation“ Allied Force ”, which took place in 1999,” the TASS news agency quoted him as saying.

The US military clarified that the main purpose of the supply is “decision support” in the framework of the so-called European Initiative on Containment.

“The ammunition we received will be used in future operations in the theater of operations and the expansion of the presence of the US European Command,” Head said.

According to representatives of the Pentagon, the measures being implemented are designed to increase the capabilities of the US military to "quickly respond to threats from aggressive actors."

Deterrence of Russia

The European Containment Initiative was adopted by the administration of the 44th President of the United States, Barack Obama, in 2014. It is aimed at enhancing the presence of the United States Armed Forces in Europe as “counteracting the provocative armed actions of Russia in Ukraine”. The program also provides for assistance to countries potentially exposed to the “Russian threat”.

In the summer of this year, the US Senate adopted a draft federal budget, according to which more than $ 6.3 billion should be allocated to this initiative in the 2019 fiscal year. The budget documents indicated that additional funds would allow the establishment of an “aggressive schedule” of joint exercises of the US Army and its allies from NATO countries and continue cooperation with Washington’s partners in Eastern Europe.

• American military transport aircraft C-130J Super Hercules at Ramstein airbase
• © ramstein.af.mil

The draft also talked about the possibility of increasing the number of American armaments and military equipment stored in Europe, as well as allowing the US Air Force to "rapidly expand the scale of operations" in conditions of active hostilities.

"Single Trident"

Experts note that the unprecedented supply of ammunition may be, in particular, related to the NATO exercises Trident Juncture (“Single Trident”), which started in Norway just one day before the EUCOM report.

These maneuvers were the largest since 2002 - 50 thousand people took part in them, 10 thousand combat vehicles, 150 airplanes and helicopters, 60 ships - including the US Navy aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman. Also, units of the armed forces of countries that are not part of the alliance - Finland, Sweden and Ukraine - joined the “Single Trident”.

• NATO soldiers during the Trident Juncture exercise

The Russian Foreign Ministry stressed that the exercises are of an obvious anti-Russian nature, given the fact that among the objectives of the maneuvers is the preparation of the Alliance military personnel for combat operations in low temperature conditions.

“Despite the rather awkward attempts of the representatives of the alliance and its member states to present such military activity as defensive, it is obvious that this demonstration of combat potential has a clear anti-Russian orientation,” the message posted on the Russian MFA website says.

The ministry believes that within the framework of the “Single Trident”, the practices of NATO military experts on forceful “containment” of Russia in climatic conditions “as close as possible” to the Russian ones will be tested in practice.

“NATO, an organization that declared Russia an adversary, is now conducting the largest military exercises after the Cold War with a comparable adversary, with a combination of defensive and offensive operations. NATO is building a new dividing line with military measures - closer to the Russian border, ”said Alexander Grushko, deputy head of the Russian diplomatic department.

Pressure factor

Obviously, unprecedented supplies of ammunition and new NATO exercises are part of US anti-Russian policy, said Konstantin Blokhin, expert of the Center for Security Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

• US Army troops
• © US Army Europe / Flickr

“It is clear that now the United States will strengthen its military and political control in Europe. This is a logical continuation of the confrontational policy towards Russia. Washington also continues to put pressure on its allies, some of whom behave according to the principle "both yours and ours," Blokhin said in an interview with RT.

The expert recalled that France and Germany periodically try to conduct their own foreign policy.

“This act of the United States is aimed at consolidating the disunited West on anti-Russian policy,” Blokhin said.

According to him, such actions are used as a factor of psychological pressure on both Moscow and the US allies - like during the Cold War.

“Some European allies will respond to these supplies with glee, especially from Central and Eastern Europe. Since this confirms the determination of the United States to fulfill its allied obligations, despite the fact that Trump declares that NATO is an outdated organization, ”the head of the regional problems and conflicts sector of IMEMO told them in a conversation with RT. Primakov RAS Konstantin Voronov.

At the same time, other European countries, in which Eurocentric views and pro-Pacific sentiments are more strongly expressed, will look at it with suspicion, the expert continues.

“There will be a dual, if not a threefold reaction. The military, of course, will accept this news with approval. Some political circles of the left, prozelёnnogo spectrum can see in this the next intensification of tension which promises nothing good to Europe, except for one more trouble, ”concluded the Ravens.

Transfer point

A number of experts saw, behind the large-scale supply of ammunition, not so much political as pragmatic motives. Since the US military-industrial complex must be loaded, warehouses in Europe must be filled, explained Voronov.

“And as a dubious justification, the thesis is being put forward that these munitions are needed for“ future operations. ” I would have taken this information fairly carefully: our military knows perfectly well what Ramstein is. This is the largest transshipment point of the US Air Force in Europe, and it is used not only for European purposes, but also for the Middle East and even for the Pacific region, ”says Voronov.

Recall Ramstein Air Base - the largest stronghold of the US Air Force outside the United States, here is the headquarters of the European Command of the US Air Force, as well as stored nuclear weapons.

Meanwhile, according to the expert, the replenishment of the warehouses of the Ramstein base will not affect the distribution of forces in the region.

“Our military calculate all possible risks, estimate the scale of supplies, the movement of ammunition. There is no change in the balance of power here. The initiative of the European Command of the US Armed Forces should be responded calmly, ”concluded the expert.