The 405th Army Field Support Brigade is receiving some much appreciated help from Germany with its mission to move an entire armored brigade combat team’s worth of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 vehicles and equipment from Mannheim, Germany, to Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany.
Augmenting commercial and military line-haul Heavy Equipment Transporters already being used to move the APS-2 equipment, the German railway and now the German military, or Bundeswehr, are doing their part to assist with the mission.
Elements from the German armed forces’ Bundeswehr Logistics Command recently certified their newly purchased HETs using 405th AFSB APS-2 vehicles and equipment at Coleman worksite in Mannheim.
From there, the Bundeswehr HETs were authorized and able to support the 405th AFSB by delivering multiple loads of APS-2 vehicles and equipment from Mannheim to Grafenwoehr. This combined U.S.-German rail and HET mission demonstrates great interoperability and shows great solidarity and mutual cooperation while demonstrating a strong and unremitting commitment to NATO Allies and partners.
At Grafenwoehr, the APS-2 equipment is being issued to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, deployed to Germany from Fort Stewart, Georgia. The 1st ABCT’s deployment supplements more than 100,000 U.S. personnel already deployed to or based in Europe as part of the United States’ longstanding commitment to European security and its close defense partnership with host nations.
The 405th AFSB fully activated its APS-2 sites in February, and for the first time in the brigade’s APS-2 program history it’s outfitting an entire armored brigade combat team deployed to Europe from the U.S.
When the vehicles and equipment arrive in Grafenwoehr, the 405th AFSB’s Army Field Support Battalion-Germany is tasked with reception, staging and issue of the APS-2 at an Equipment Configuration and Handoff Area, also known as an ECHA. This includes tracked vehicles such as the M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks, M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers, as well as Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, Palletized Load Systems and Load Handling Systems, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, generators and more.
In place to help reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations – APS-2 is part of an Army program in which equipment sets are stored around the world for use when a combatant commander requires additional capabilities. There are seven APS regions across the globe, in total, and APS-2 is Europe.