POWIDZ, Poland –
One of the 405th Army Field Support Brigade’s main lines of effort is the Army Prepositioned Stock-2 program. There are five APS-2 sites in four countries under the command and control of the 405th AFSB in support of U.S. Army Europe and Africa and joint forces.
The commander and command sergeant major of the 405th AFSB recently visited what will become the brigade’s newest APS-2 site. Located near Powidz and adjacent to the Polish air force’s 33rd Air Base, construction on the new APS-2 site is currently well underway.
During the visit, Col. Brad Bane and Command Sgt. Maj. Kofie Primus walked the site and received a briefing from James O’Riley, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Europe District project engineer and contracting officer’s representative.
“Working with the 405th AFSB, they gave us a lot of input up front on the design,” said O’Riley, “beginning with the Livorno (Italy) APS-2 site as a template.”
“Now we’re about 98 percent complete with Phase II,” said O’Riley. “We are commissioning the fire pump house, medium voltage lines, exterior lighting, fire-pump water, domestic water, gas lines, and all the basic communications and infrastructure backbone.”
Construction is scheduled to be completed sometime in mid- to late-2022, and the APS-2 site is scheduled to be operational and fully mission capable the following year or no later than the year after.
According to the Secretary General of NATO, Jens Stoltenberg, the site is the largest, single infrastructure project funded by NATO in 30 years. The design and construction estimate for the new APS-2 site is more than $360 million.
Comprised of 650,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space, a vehicle maintenance facility and supporting facilities – the state-of-the-art APS-2 site demonstrates the commitment and investment of the U.S. and the host nation with NATO through enduring agreements to posture resources for rapid deployment and deter potential adversaries.
About 85 battle tanks, 190 armored combat vehicles, 35 artillery, and 4 armored vehicle launched bridges along with hundreds of supporting equipment sets and pieces will be stored at the new site. To move that amount of equipment from the U.S. would take 45-60 days. With the APS-2 site, the timeline is reduced to 4-7 days to issue the equipment for operational employment.
This enhances our ability to rapidly and dynamically employ force within theater vastly improving our Army’s deterrence capabilities while also improving our readiness posture, said Bane. Additionally, it assures our partners and allies that we are committed to the collective defense of Europe.
The site was designed by USACE to meet the security and construction standards of the host nation with a variety of building types, such as open bay warehouses, wash racks and a fueling facility. There is also 58,000 square foot earth-covered munitions storage area nearby.
As the construction continues and the completion of the new APS-2 site nears “from our perspective, it’s also about making headway on all the hiring actions that need to take place that very well may take a long time,” Bane said.
“We need to be focused on the operational piece of that, so when we are ready to cut the ribbon everything and everyone is in place and ready to go,” Bane said.
The 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program helps to reduce deployment timelines, improve deterrence capabilities and provide additional combat power for contingency operations. APS-2 equipment may also be drawn for use in training and exercises like DEFENDER-Europe 21. Each APS-2 site has the capability to house and maintain about an Armored Brigade Combat Team’s worth of equipment as well as engineer, artillery, military police, sustainment and medical capabilities. The APS-2 program enhances USAREUR-AF’s readiness and capability to support the warfighter while simultaneously promoting stability and security in the region.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, USAREUR-AF. The brigade is headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. Forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging the U.S. Army Materiel Command materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website at www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.