U.S. and Polish military officials cut a ceremonial ribbon together celebrating the completion of the Deployable Air Base System Facilities, Equipment and Vehicle storage site in Powidz, Poland, on May 27, 2026. The DABS-FEV will store the essentials needed to make it faster for the U.S. Air Force and NATO allies to quickly set up and operate from air bases in and around Poland. (ShaTyra Cox/Stars and Stripes)
POWIDZ, Poland — A yearslong Polish effort to mold the country into a key logistics and readiness hub for allies took another step this week, as work finished on an equipment pre-positioning facility about 60 miles from U.S. Army Garrison Poland headquarters.
Military leaders from the U.S. and Poland gathered Tuesday to mark the completion of the Deployable Air Base System Facility, Equipment and Vehicle, or DABS-FEV, a Polish-funded site designed to rapidly transform austere airfields into functioning forward operating bases.
The facility stores pre-positioned vehicles, fuel systems, shelters and other equipment needed to sustain air operations, enabling forces to disperse widely instead of relying solely on major installations.
“By enabling us to shift forces from large main bases to a network of distributed locations, this facility gives us operational unpredictability,” said Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth, director of logistics, engineering and force protection for U.S. Air Forces in Europe.
“This directly complicates an adversary’s targeting process, significantly increases the risk to anyone who would threaten our alliance, and thereby dramatically strengthens NATO deterrence,” Ellsworth said.
U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Chad Ellsworth, left, director of logistics, engineering and force protection for U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa, shakes hands with Polish Chief of the Armed Forces Support Inspectorate Maj. Gen. Dariusz Mendrala after a ribbon-cutting ceremony marking the completion of the Deployable Air Base System Facilities, Equipment and Vehicle storage site in Powidz, Poland, on May 27, 2026. Military leaders from the U.S. and Poland gathered to celebrate the completion of the Polish-funded war reserve site, which is designed to rapidly transform austere airfields into functioning forward operating bases. (ShaTyra Cox/Stars and Stripes)
The DABS-FEV facility is now the second-largest theater war reserve materiel site in Europe behind a similar facility in Luxembourg.
In his speech Wednesday, Ellsworth said the facility will serve as a cornerstone of NATO’s eastern flank policy, though officials later stressed that he intended to say that it would be a cornerstone of the alliance’s eastern flank “security.”
Its completion comes amid lingering questions about the future shape of American troop presence in Europe.
Although the Trump administration has repeatedly described Poland as a “model ally,” the Pentagon recently paused deployments of certain units to Poland and Germany as part of a broader review expected to reduce the U.S. military footprint in Europe.
President Donald Trump later announced that the U.S. will send an additional 5,000 troops to Poland, though it remains unclear how that proposal would affect the broader force review.
Poland has long pushed for a stronger U.S. troop presence.
The Powidz project is one of 115 infrastructure efforts underway across 12 locations in Poland aimed at supporting allied operations.
Poland expects to spend $6 billion to support U.S. troop presence and related facilities over time, according to Maj. Gen. Dariusz Mendrala, chief of Poland’s Inspectorate for Armed Forces Support.
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 heightened Poland’s sense of urgency around defense investment, Mendrala said.
“We can feel the taste and the smoke of war just around the corner,” he said. “That’s why Polish taxpayers accept the price we need to pay for security.”
Poland spends nearly 5% of its gross domestic product on defense, the highest percentage among the 32 countries in NATO.
It also quickly aligned itself with Trump’s demands that NATO allies sharply increase defense spending, including a new alliance benchmark of 5% of GDP.
Both Ellsworth and Mendrala stopped short of speculating on future troop levels in Poland. Instead, they emphasized enduring military cooperation and readiness investments.
The new facility reflects years of joint planning. Civil engineers from U.S. Air Forces in Europe, the Installation and Mission Support Center and the Army Corps of Engineers worked alongside Polish partners to ensure that the facility met standards for allied interoperability.
“This combined effort is the bedrock of everything this site represents, and it sets a gold standard for future bilateral collective defense projects,” Ellsworth said.
