In preparation for Exercise Defender 23, the US Army is cracking open warehouses in Europe full of prepositioned vehicles, weapons and other equipment.

In Zutendaal, Belgium, the US Army’s Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux prepared and loaded equipment onto commercial transporters bound for Romania for Exercise Defender 23. This includes float bridge systems, boats and bridge transporters. All this equipment will be given to the 50th Multi-Role Bridge Company, which is coming from the US, and it will be used in a wet-gap crossing that is led by a Romanian multinational division during Exercise Defender 23.

The Army Prepositioned Stock programme is a cornerstone of the US Army’s ability to quickly deploy soldiers to Europe and collect equipment that’s ready to go. This means the largest land force in NATO can arrive in Europe and become combat-ready on much shorter notice, in support of NATO Allies and their partners, should a crisis occur.

Exercise Defender 23 is a US Army-led exercise that focuses on the strategic deployment of United States-based forces, employment of Army Prepositioned Stocks and development of shared tactics and procedures with NATO Allies and their partners. The exercise takes place from 22 April to 23 June.

Footage includes shots of US Army equipment and vehicles being maintained in the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite and float bridge systems being loaded onto commercial transporters, as well as soundbites from the commander of the Army Field Support Battalion-Benelux and the site director at the Zutendaal APS-2 worksite.