Storing Heavy Equipment in the Gulf RegionMarch 17, 2009

 

Army M1A1 Abrams tanks

As American forces withdraw from Iraq, the Pentagon is busy developing a plan for one of the largest relocations of military equipment in recent history.

While most soldiers will be brought back to the United States, the military hardware is unlikely to return home, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.

Some of it will be shipped to Afghanistan and some will remain for use by Iraqi security forces. But the bulk of it—including millions of tons of armor and weaponry—will be redistributed and stocked in warehouses around the Persian Gulf region, according the report.

This way, the U.S. military will be able to respond rapidly to any scenario in the region without requiring a massive deployment of equipment from around the world. This avoids the perception of provocation posed by having soldiers stationed there, but gives the military the ability to respond quickly to any aggression.

Nonetheless, American allies in the region are imposing new conditions on storing U.S. weapons in their territory. Kuwait, for example, is now asking that the weapons stored there be used only to defend Kuwait, according to the LA Times.

Under such conditions, the Pentagon is deliberating which equipment is best to keep there. The vulnerable Humvees and unarmored trucks will not remain, but heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicles (MRAPs) will be stored for future use.

"It will be primarily the big gear, stuff like MRAPs, tanks," Maj. Gen. Kenneth Dowd, the director of logistics for U.S. Central Command, told the LA Times, "so we don't have to move and lift all this heavy stuff."

(DoD photo by Staff Sgt. Suzanne M. Day, U.S. Air Force. (Released))