US Forces Well Positioned In Europe To Deter Russia, US official

Shafaq News/ The US Deputy Secretary of Defense, Kathleen Hicks, revealed more than 100,000 US forces deployed across Europe and worked closely with NATO allies.

"In the European Deterrence Initiative, we built a lot of CAPABILITIES - over 100,000 US military forces today - in and around the European theater …We are in a good position there," Hicks said.

On Thursday, Belarusian Armed Forces Deputy Chief of Staff, Ruslan Kosygin, said NATO had doubled its military presence in Eastern Europe, which allows the alliance to send strike forces to the borders of Russia and Belarus in the shortest time possible.

He estimated that Western forces in eastern and southeastern Europe now number 37,500 - including 24,500 deployed in Poland and the Baltic states - twice as many as 2021.

Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment, Dr. William A. LaPlante said that the Pentagon announced $300 million in security assistance under USAI. To date, "the DOD has already awarded eight contracts totaling $136.8 million. And we'll have some of the details of this if you're interested. But, still, these awards included unmanned aerial systems, Puma, advanced precision kill weapon system, communication devices, combat medical equipment and supplies, meals ready to eat, even binoculars."

"This also includes a $17.8 million for Switchblade unmanned aerial systems, and that's an award that's going to be seen later today -- later this afternoon. So again, out of the $300 million, we have plans for all $300 million, but we've already announced the awards for $136.8 million." He added.