The US Army is planning to station about 150 tanks and armored vehicles to NATO countries, including Bulgaria, next year, a US general has said.

“I’m going to look at options that would include distributing this equipment in smaller sets, company-size or battalion-size, perhaps in the Baltics, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, places like that,” Ben Hodges, who heads NATO's Allied Land Command, was quoted by the Enquirer as saying.

Troops might also be deployed for several months to carry out joint drills in these countries.

In a phone interview Hodges explained nearly 50 armored vehicles were already in place and another 100 M1 Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles would be "pre-positioned" in Germany and possibly elsewhere.

He added the equipment sent to Eastern Europe would "stay behind" after the joint exercises.

The move is part of the so-called "Operation Atlantic Resolve", a US gesture of support for allies in Eastern Europe in the light of what the alliance has described as possible aggression from Russia.

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