Posted on 05/02/2022 9:54:10 AM PDT by Alas Babylon!
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany—Within days of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, U.S. European Command stood up a 24/7 operations center to coordinate the rapid delivery of defense assistance from dozens of nations to the front line inside Ukraine.
For the first time, the Defense Department described how the EUCOM Control Center Ukraine (ECCU) works during a briefing for journalists covering the Ukraine Defense Consultative Workshop at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, on April 26, signaling a rapid evolution to changing battlefield needs.
“Quite simply, it’s a near soup-to-nuts of all things security systems [to be] delivered,” a senior defense official said of the Stuttgart, Germany-based ops center. “It’s a combination of a call center, a watch floor, meeting rooms. They execute a battle rhythm to support decision-makers as well as 24/7 engagement and coordination around the globe with about 40 to 60 people at any given time.”
Large rooms at EUCOM have been converted to the active watch floor, which tracks logistics, movements, timing flow rates, and communications with military commands such as U.S. Transportation Command.
A U.S. two-star Naval officer from EUCOM’s J-4 logistics directorate runs the ECCU with staff from 15 donor nations. Since March, it has worked in parallel with the United Kingdom’s International Donor Coordination Center (IDCC), run by a British one-star officer.
Ukrainian military liaisons also make up “fewer than five” of the ECCU staff.
“This robust, fast-evolving international effort has focused on the speed of delivery that ensures a credible, resilient, and combat-capable Ukraine military,” the defense official said.
Prior to President Joe Biden’s call for a $33 billion Ukraine supplemental security package April 28, the President had signed eight presidential drawdowns and provided $4 billion in defense aid. The ECCU worked with TRANSCOM to move each of those orders of war material from Defense Department warehouses in the United States to staging grounds in Europe and onward to NATO eastern front positions, where the material is trucked across the border into Ukraine.
Often, that has meant C-17s departing from Dover Air Force Base, Del., landing at Ramstein, and then repackaging to smaller C-130s for flights to front-line airfields. That way, the larger aircraft can quickly return to the U.S. and refill with additional defense assistance, an Air Mobility Command official told Air Force Magazine.
Initially, flights departed every other day, but the pace quickly ramped up to eight to 10 flights per day.
“At some points, it has spiked to nearly double that as we ramped up our coordination and logistics efforts to ensure that we’re meeting the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in near real time,” the senior defense official said.
“Our support has also expanded from a single path via air to a multimodal effort [including] air, ground, and rail over multiple routes,” the official said. “Once it crosses that border, [the Ukrainians] have a very diverse route—paths to getting their equipment to the fight—and they clearly seem to be very effective.”
The last point has taken on outsize importance recently. Following the visits of Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken by rail to Kyiv, Russia bombed supply routes, hitting five rail stations in central and western Ukraine.
Another senior defense official at Ramstein told Air Force Magazine that as of April 27, the railway attacks had not impacted the transfer of defense assistance.
Defense and humanitarian assistance is known to flow through southeastern Poland, northern Romania, and Slovakia, although apart from the Poland route, it is not public to what degree the U.S. coordinates transfer through the other NATO countries bordering Ukraine.
The ECCU official said initially there was concern the assistance would fall into the wrong hands as it is not tracked once it crosses the Ukrainian border. But force protection and operational security are “baked into the equation” and have ensured timely delivery to the battlefield.
The front line, however, has shifted to the easternmost region of Ukraine, some 800 miles from the Polish border, to the Donbas region. The most recent $800 million in U.S. defense assistance to Ukraine announced April 21 includes 72 155mm Howitzer artillery pieces and 144,000 artillery rounds, along with 72 tactical vehicles to tow the weapons.
Despite the distance, the defense official was optimistic the Howitzers would be firing on Russian targets in short order.
“If you’re not seeing Howitzers shooting in the eastern part of Ukraine within a week, then there’s a problem. But I’ll bet you’re going to see them shooting within a week,” the official said.
As Ukraine’s defense needs have shifted to long-range weapons, the official told Air Force Magazine that while air defenses such as Stingers are still “part of the mix,” they are being requested “at a lower priority level.”
The defense official pointed to the 40 nations meeting with Ukraine’s defense minister and senior military in a nearby room at the Ramstein Officer’s Club that same day, noting the constant evolution of the ECCU to respond to the perceived next phase of the war.
“Needs-based is important, but staying ahead of the problem is really important,” the official said.
“They need this aid,” the official added of Ukraine’s war effort. “There’s a lot of capacity in the Russian military, even if they’re performing badly. There’s a lot of depth there.”
We are running this war and special operators are plinking the Russian brass. Why?
$$$
I worked that battle staff when I was assigned to USEUCOM. They stand up a cell to work issues pertaining to conflicts within the AOR.
Because globohomo WEF and DC believe they can destabilize Russia, install a puppet without Russia resisting, seeing it as an existential threat and nuking us. We have gotten used to chasing goat humpers around and are sure the Russians will be defeated that way. Guess we’ll see.
There may some instance of them backing down, but in the last 900 years that has not been the norm for then. And since the 50s, it’s been an article of faith there that if facing destruction at the hands of an enemy, that enemy will get it’s homeland nuked.
For us nuclear war is so unthinkable that we dismiss it. They think of us as the 4th Reich, pressing into Ukraine, sinking warships, blowing up tank farms inside Russia, using our cute techniques to assassinate their generals. I hope we don’t find out one morning that they do not share our feelings about nuking an enemy.
Time will tell.
The fact that “Air Force Magazine” has a feature story about this fine target shows how cavalier our side is being about this.
Can anyone imagine Ike having a story featuring a critical command hub where the staff and politicians are meeting?
This is the where soldiers in high heels, and Navy officer girls ramming container ships gets you.
I think we might, especially if Kinzinger is the errand boy floating that AUMF--what better than to have a "Republican" not facing re-election, posting up a fig leaf to send in US troops? "Its bipartisan, dontcha know...."
You ever see that newspaper photo of the accident in Kuwait?
It has a truck and a goat is tied to the tailgate. behind the goat there is a box. Behind that there’s a dead Arab splayed out. The guy got kicked by the goat just right and it killed him. Funniest thing I ever saw. There’s cops walking around nonchalantly investigating the scene. XD XD XD
We find nuclear war unimaginable.
The Russians built their civil defense shelters because they found it definitely imaginable, and did extensive work to survive it.
Do you know where a civil defense shelter is? When was the last time you saw that sign?
This simulation is worrisome, because it puts right before your nose how quick the world changes. And even worse, if you’re not paying attention, you’ll miss it.
I encourage all Freepers to watch this:
https://youtu.be/aIcUSd3nkJE?t=21
Lucky for us we’re a wealthy country with money to burn, brilliant leaders and no problems with our own borders, economy, or food issues. So by all means, whatever anyone needs WE should provide.
With less than 5 Ukrainians in this "Control Center", you damn well know we are running the war. Biden's people bragged about how we give detailed intel and coordinates to the Ukrainians to hit.
We are doing everything except pulling the trigger...but expect Russia to just take it.
Watched it. Interesting, but two minor quibbles. It’s hard to imagine a 12 missile nuclear attack, and an attack that does not target Colorado Springs, Cheyenne, our missile fields, etc...
Some of our snipers probably are pulling triggers. A lot to risk for a kleptocracy in which we have no strategic interest (we bring the US people, not the DS Mandarins who feed at this trough).
They happy to fight until the last US taxpayer dollar is spent or the last Ukrainian is dead. please just stay out of other countries civil wars.
Those who believe Ukraine is filled with these amazing warriors that can defeat the Russians are fooling themselves. It is the very heavy hand of the US defeating Russia....and they are only going to take it for so long before hitting back.
I think that is what the cruise missile strikes on the train station in Kyiv was all about right after US and UN officials left. I predict we will see a strike against NATO supply lines shortly.
“I worked that battle staff when I was assigned to USEUCOM. They stand up a cell to work issues pertaining to conflicts within the AOR.”
Small world, I was on J6 staff.
“We are running this war and special operators are plinking the Russian brass. Why?”
1. Because we don’t care to see Putin reassemble the USSR.
2. (See #1)
We've been stupidly telegraphing our operations since after the Gulf War.
It's not a sign of effeminacy, but of arrogance: we really don't think the other side can do anything about it.
We’re not running the war. This is only coordinating deliveries of weapons.
Not a civil war. It’s like calling a US invasion of Canada a “civil war.”
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