US to Expand Training of Ukrainian Troops
The US Department of Defense has announced that US forces in Europe will expand the training provided to Ukrainian troops. Pentagon Press Secretary Brigadier General Patrick Ryder announced that training will be expanded “to include joint maneuver and combined arms operations training while building on the specialized equipment training” which has already been supplied.
Ryder noted that “combined arms maneuver training is a logical next step in our training efforts that began in 2014, to build the capacity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces,” he also noted that the training is “essential to ensure that Ukraine has the competent forces needed to better defend itself.” Since Russia’s invasion in February, training provided by US forces has largely been shaped by what Ryder called: “immediate battlefield needs”.
Ryder explained that the uplifted training program would be led by the 7th Army Training Command, which falls under US Army’s Europe and Africa Command. The will lead delivery of the program which is intended to provide tactical training at the small unit: squad, platoon and company up to the battalion level. Ryder said that “the idea here is to be able to give them that advanced level of collective training that allows them to conduct effective combined arms operations in battlefield maneuver.”
The expansion of the training will see as many as 500 Ukrainian personnel trained each month with the program set to begin in January. The training will include classroom and field training on how units of different sizes can operate in the field and incorporate some live firing, with this training to take place at at US firing ranges in Germany. The courses are expected to last up to a month.
Importantly, the training will seek to provide Ukrainian units with the skills and capabilities needed to react to situations on the battlefield as they emerge. The classroom element of the instruction will then be tested by “practical application from the platoon to battalion level” and will culminate in a field exercise where Ukrainian troops will carry out more advanced training scenarios.
The program may be adjusted “as Ukraine’s training needs change or Allied contributions expand,” Ryder clarified. He also noted that to day the US Army in Europe has trained 3,100 Ukrainian personnel, with this training focusing in systems employment, operation and maintenance. US Europe Command provided Overt Defense with a breakdown of which systems these Ukrainian troops had been trained on, ranging from everything from M113 armored personnel carriers to M777 howitzers and M142 HIMARS.
Header Image: Pre-war training – Joint Multinational Training Group conducts a class-exercise at the headquarters location for the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ 72nd Mechanized Infantry Brigade, Jan 10, 2022. (US Army)