25,000 troops to take part in largest U.S.-led Black Sea drills

25,000 troops to take part in largest U.S.-led Black Sea drills

PanARMENIAN.Net - The largest U.S.-led drills in the Black Sea area this year will see 25,000 American and allied troops gather in Bulgaria, Hungary and Romania this July for the annual ‘Saber Guardian 2017’ exercises, RT said.

The fifth edition of the annual Saber Guardian war-games, scheduled for July 10-20, will be “larger in both scale and scope” compared to previous years, the U.S. European Command said in a statement.

It will amass around 25,000 servicemen from the U.S. and 23 other nations, making it “the largest of the 18 Black Sea region exercises this year.”

According to the U.S. European Command, the drills will focus on “participant deterrence capabilities, specifically, the ability to mass forces at any given time anywhere in Europe.”

The participating forces will also engage in an array of live fire exercises, river crossings and a mass casualty exercise.

The European-based 3rd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division and 2nd Cavalry Regiment are to represent the U.S. military during the drills.

The Saber Guardian drills will be preceded and followed by a number of smaller exercises, in what the Americans calls “deterrence in action.”

Also on Wednesday, the U.S. European Command announced the arrival of “several” B-1B heavy bombers from Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota to the Fairford Airbase in the UK.

The bombers will support the separate Saber Strike and BALTOPS exercises to take place in the Baltics, and elsewhere in Europe this June.

Saber Strike is an annual exercise which was first staged in 2010 to improve cooperation among allies, while promoting regional stability and security, the U.S. European Command said.

The current chapter of the so-called BALTOPS multinational drills will involve 4,000 navy personnel, 50 ships and submarines and more than 50 aircraft.

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