The United States plans to station a new Stryker armoured vehicle brigade in south-eastern Germany as early as 2006, just as it starts withdrawing some 30,000 troops from the country as part of a major force realignment.
Andrew Hoehn, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for Strategy, told reporters on Thursday the new brigade would include about 3,000 troops and would be the centrepiece of a slimmer, more modern US force in Europe.
"We are looking at forces and capabilities that can move to the fight. The Stryker brigade here in Germany will be the centrepiece of that posture," Hoehn said.
"Its function in part is to work on inter-operability - the capability of American forces and German forces and other Nato forces to work together."
Hoehn said there were no plans to bring any other new brigades to Germany on top of the Stryker unit, which he said would likely be based in the area near Grafenwoehr and Vilseck, east of Nuremberg, and arrive in 2006 or 2007.
The Stryker is a wheeled combat vehicle favoured by the US military for its battlefield mobility and firepower.
In August, President George W. Bush unveiled plans to bring home up to 70,000 troops from Europe and Asia within a decade as the United States shifts its military focus to new extremist threats.
The withdrawals, scheduled to begin in 2006 and take place over a period of several years, are expected to include about 30,000 troops in two heavy divisions in Germany.
The plans have led some German communities with large US bases to warn of economic disaster.
Hoehn and Lincoln Bloomfield, Assistant US Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs, have been discussing the troop shifts with regional officials and members of the German parliament this week. They acknowledged that the United States was now looking to set up new military facilities in former communist eastern Europe, but stressed that Germany would remain the focus for US forces in Europe.
"Germany will remain the largest centre for US military operations in Europe," Bloomfield said. "We are not intending to put full military bases further eastward."
A top US general told Reuters last month that Romania and Bulgaria were being eyed as possible hosts for new US facilities.
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