KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany –
The 405th Army Field Support Brigade recently began augmenting its line-haul heavy equipment transporter deliveries of an entire armored brigade combat team’s worth of Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 equipment with rail.
More than two dozen armored vehicles and equipment pieces – ranging from M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks to M109 Paladin self-propelled howitzers to M2 Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and more – were shipped from Coleman worksite in Mannheim, Germany, to Grafenwoehr Training Area, Germany, via Deutsche Bahn, or German railway, March 10.
This was the first of many rail movements to come over the next few weeks. The APS-2 is being issued to the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, deployed to Germany from the U.S.
At the direction of the Commander, U.S. European Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa is drawing APS-2 equipment and vehicles, mostly from Coleman work site, under the command and control of Army Field Support Battalion-Mannheim, 405th AFSB.
The APS-2 draw of an armored brigade combat team plus enablers is currently in the process of being delivered to Grafenwoehr Training Area. The APS-2 equipment and vehicles are being loaded onto military and commercial line-haul trucks, and now German railcars, and transported to Grafenwoehr, where the 405th AFSB’s Army Field Support Battalion-Germany is tasked with reception, staging and issue of the APS-2 to 1st ABCT, 3rd Inf. Div. at an Equipment Configuration and Handoff Area, also known as an ECHA.
This includes tracked vehicles such as the M1A2 Abrams, M2 Bradleys and M109 Paladins, as well as Joint Light Tactical Vehicles, generators, Palletized Load Systems and Load Handling Systems, Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Trucks, and more.
This combined U.S.-German rail mission shows great solidarity and mutual cooperation, and demonstrates a strong and unremitting commitment to NATO Allies and partners.
The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and under the operational control of the 21st Theater Sustainment Command, U.S. Army Europe and Africa. 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 AMC’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the www.afsbeurope.army.mil and the official Facebook site at www.facebook.com/405thAFSB.