U.S. Army assumes responsibility for Dülmen Depot

By U.S. ArmyOctober 5, 2016

U.S. Army Europe assumed responsibility for Dülmen Depot from German officials today. The former British supply depot will be used to store Army Pre-positioned Stocks (APS) equipment.

The APS Program provides strategically pre-positioned equipment world-wide, thereby reducing deployment response times in a crisis.

This action has been coordinated and approved by German federal and state officials and the move is expected to create more than 180 local jobs when activities are fully operational in 2017/18. The exact mix between contract and direct hire personnel has not been determined, but maintenance and supply specialists will be required.

Management of the installation will be under control of U.S. Army Garrison Benelux with a small staff of 20-25 running the entire Benelux APS site-support mission, and the 405th Army Field Support Brigade - Europe will be responsible for equipment storage and sustainment operations.

Dülmen is very well suited for the prepositioned vehicle and equipment storage mission and can accommodate up to six battalion sets of equipment. Due to the excellent condition of the facilities and infrastructure, USAREUR anticipates vehicles and equipment to begin arriving in early 2017.

The depot, near Münster, will be used to store and maintain wheeled and tracked vehicles as well as associated support equipment. This is a portion of the equipment to be stored across Europe as announced by U.S. Secretary of Defense Ash Carter in March 2016. USAREUR plans to use equipment storage depots in Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium to store this equipment.