{"id":85677,"date":"2020-08-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-08-11T09:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/08\/11\/stryker-deployment-to-black-sea-will-bolster-natos-eastern-flank\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:34:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:34:26","slug":"stryker-deployment-to-black-sea-will-bolster-natos-eastern-flank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/commentary\/2020\/08\/11\/stryker-deployment-to-black-sea-will-bolster-natos-eastern-flank\/","title":{"rendered":"Stryker deployment to Black Sea will bolster NATO\u2019s eastern flank"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On July 29, Secretary of Defense Mark Esper announced new changes to U.S. basing posture in Europe<\/a> that would result in more than 10,000 troops returning to the United States from bases in Germany, followed by a relocation of military personnel to Poland and Mons, Belgium. While most of the media attention has focused on the redeployment of forces from Europe back to the United States, a new strategic decision was made by the U.S. that will result in an increased military presence in NATO\u2019s new front yard: the Black Sea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During his Pentagon press conference, Esper announced that a U.S. Stryker brigade would be sent to the Black Sea in what will be the first significant U.S. military ground forces deployment to the region. The Black Sea has been the epicenter of Russia\u2019s revisionist ambitions since its 2008 war with Georgia and its 2014 invasion and occupation of Ukraine\u2019s Crimea and invasion of Donbass. To highlight the changes in U.S. defense posture in the Black Sea, Esper described the move in the following strategic terms:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook at what we\u2019re moving. What we\u2019re doing is \u2026 we\u2019re moving forces out of central Europe \u2014 Germany, where they had been since the Cold War, since I first traveled there in the early 1980s, and we\u2019re now moving \u2014 we\u2019re following, in many ways, the boundary east, where our newest allies are. So into the Black Sea region \u2026 That\u2019s why it\u2019s a strategic laydown that enhances deterrence, strengthens the allies, reassures them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What specifically will the United States be doing to enhance our deterrence capabilities in the Black Sea? Esper indicated that the Pentagon plans to deploy a Stryker brigade into the Black Sea once U.S. forces are rotated back to the United States. This move will be the largest ever U.S. Army deployment to the Black Sea region and will mark a new development in U.S. defense posture along NATO\u2019s eastern flank. As Esper noted in his press conference, these units will be \u201cgiving us a more enduring presence to enhance deterrence.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To date, NATO\u2019s presence in the Black Sea has been minimal despite the Russian invasion and annexation of Crimea<\/a> in 2014. It reacted to the events in Ukraine by devoting most of its attention and limited resources to the defense of the Baltic rather than the Black Sea. In the Baltic, NATO sought to reinforce the region by creating and deploying Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) battlegroups to each of the Baltic member states. British, Canadian and German rotational forces are the main components of the EFP battlegroups. Smaller platoon-sized units were deployed to Romania as part of the minimal Tailored Forward Presence (TFP), as opposed to the thousands of NATO forces now deployed in the Baltic.<\/p>\n\n\n\t