US sheds 21 excess facilities in Europe

A military golf course, hotel and skeet range are among the 21 facilities that will be given up across Europe in connection with a Pentagon review aimed at shedding excess infrastructure on the Continent, the Pentagon announced Friday. Every major installation in Europe, however, survived the cuts.

The Defense Department emphasized that none of the closures will affect the size of the force in Europe, which now stands at just under 70,000 troops.

The cuts to unneeded facilities will allow U.S. European command to focus resources on higher-priority missions, Rear Adm. John Kirby, Pentagon press secretary said Friday.

It doesnt at all change our military capability on the continent or degrade in any way our readiness to meet our security commitments there in Europe, he told reporters at the Pentagon.

For more than a year, the Defense Department has been conducting what has been characterized as a BRAC-like review of infrastructure in Europe. The review, dubbed the European Infrastructure Consolidation, resulted in widespread speculation among personnel at many bases in Europe that their installation could be on the chopping block.

Instead of cutting major installations, a series of non-operational sites, including outdated and excess family housing facilities, recreation sites and storage depots, were selected for closure.

In all, DOD said the moves will save $60 million annually. Facilities were affected across a wide swath of the EUCOM area of operation, stretching from Germany and Spain to Italy, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Greece.

The department continues looking for unneeded infrastructure to shutter, Kirby said.

Its an ongoing process and it will continue, he said. This is sort of the first tranche of what I suspect will be other changes to come.

The decision comes as security challenges in Europe have returned to the forefront.

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US sheds 21 excess facilities in Europe