The United States will establish a reconnaissance squadron of MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles in Poland, a joint declaration on bilateral defence cooperation read, Trend reports citing Sputnik.
"Establishment of a United States Air Force MQ-9 Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance squadron in Poland. The United States intends to share information derived from this squadron’s operations, as appropriate, in support of our defense objectives," the declaration, released by the White House on Wednesday, following a meeting between Polish President Andrzej Duda and his US counterpart Donald Trump, read.
"The United States plans to enhance its current military presence of approximately 4,500 rotational United States military personnel in Poland. This enduring presence is expected to grow by about 1,000 additional United States military personnel inthe near-term, and would focus on providing additional defense and deterrence capabilities in Poland," the document added.
Moreover, Poland expressed its commitment to provide infrastructure for the joint projects.
Additionally, the declaration stipulated the establishment of a Combat Training Center (CTC) in Drawsko Pomorskie and several other sites and a US Division Headquarters in Poland.
The sides also agreed to set up an aerial port of debarkation "to support the movement of forces for training or contingency"; an area support group; a US special operations forces group to support various operations; and infrastructure to back the presence of "an armored brigade combat team, a combat aviation brigade, and a combat sustainment support battalion" in Poland.
For months, there have been speculations about the US plans to set up a military base and enhance its presence in Poland, which is one of its NATO allies. The Eastern European country's leadership has cited the alleged Russian threat as one of the reasons for its military build-up.
Russia has repeatedly stressed that it will never attack any of the NATO countries. According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, NATO is well aware of the lack of Moscow’s plans to attack any country and uses the alleged threat as a pretext to deploy more equipment and troops near Russia's border.