APS-2 site part of Congressional assessment of European defense industrial investments | Article

POWIDZ, Poland – A bipartisan Congressional delegation visited the Powidz Army Prepositioned Stocks-2 worksite in Poland April 16 as part of a larger, overarching assessment of the latest tranches of European defense industrial investments.

Led by Army Field Support Battalion-Poland Commander Lt. Col. Omar McKen and Sgt. Maj. Olimpia Valdez, U.S. House of Representatives Keith Self from Texas and Derek Tran from California toured the APS-2 worksite along with several House of Foreign Affairs Committee members and Congressional staffers. The 405th Army Field Support Brigade commander, Col. Ernest Lane II, was also in attendance, plus other Army leaders and commanders.

The Powidz APS-2 worksite, a NATO funded facility that officially opened in 2024, was high on their list of sites to visit during their Congressional trip to Europe meeting European Union officials, conducting oversight of U.S. and allied military capabilities, and assessing the state of defense industrial investments in Europe.

Beyond this most recent Congressional visit, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll visited the Powidz APS-2 worksite less than a week earlier, and last month several House Armed Services Committee members were there. In addition, many other distinguished visitors have recently toured the site, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, who was there in February.

“It’s important to host visits like this to help leadership at the highest levels gain a better understanding of APS-2 operations in Eastern Europe,” said Cpt. James Bath, AFSBn-Poland’s operations officer. “All these visits to our site are fantastic opportunities to showcase our team’s hard work and the dedication of our Polish partners.”

The Powidz APS-2 worksite is comprised of 650,000 square feet of humidity-controlled warehouse space and a vehicle maintenance facility as well as supporting facilities. It houses and maintains a modernized Armored Brigade Combat Team’s worth of APS-2 equipment to include several dozen M1A2 Abrams main battle tanks and nearly 200 other armored combat vehicles, plus more.

There are six APS-2 worksites across Europe located in five countries under the command and control of the 405th AFSB. Each worksite has the capability to house and maintain an Armored Brigade Combat Team’s or a Sustainment Brigade’s worth of equipment as well as engineer, artillery, military police, and medical capabilities. By providing turn-key power projection APS-2 packages ready to employ at a moment’s notice, the 405th AFSB’s APS-2 program is a key component of U.S. Army Europe and Africa’s power projection and warfighter readiness missions.

The 405th AFSB is assigned to U.S. Army Sustainment Command and headquartered in Kaiserslautern, Germany. The brigade provides materiel enterprise support to U.S. forces throughout Europe and Africa – providing theater sustainment logistics; synchronizing acquisition, logistics and technology; and leveraging U.S. Army Materiel Command’s materiel enterprise to support joint forces. For more information on the 405th AFSB, visit the official website and the official Facebook site.