The U.S. military is borrowing helicopters and other equipment from European allies to counter Russian aggression, The New York Times reports.
The borrowing comes after the U.S. pulled much of its own gear and most of its soldiers off the continent several years ago. While more than 200,000 American troops were stationed in Europe at the end of the Cold War, there are about 30,000 left to deal with increasing agitation from Russia. Moscow has engaged in military actions in Ukraine and, more recently, Syria, making America’s NATO partners nervous.
“The mission’s still the same,” Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, the U.S. Army’s top general in Europe, told the Times. “So we have to figure out how you make 30,000 feel like 300,000.”
