POWIDZ, PL. - On November 19, 2025, a senior Pentagon official visited U.S. Army aviation forces at Powidz Airfield, underscoring the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade’s role in strengthening NATO readiness along the alliance’s eastern flank.
Daniel L. Zimmerman, the assistant secretary of war for international security affairs, met with Soldiers from Task Force Viper as they briefed him on the brigade’s mission in Poland and its contributions to rapid response operations, cooperation with Polish aviation units, and NATO’s broader deterrence posture.
During the engagement, Zimmerman toured a static display of the brigade’s helicopter and unmanned platforms, including an AH-64E Apache, UH-60 Black Hawk, HH-60 medevac aircraft, CH-47 Chinook, and a MQ-1C Grey Eagle unmanned aerial system. He also spent time in the cockpit of an Apache, where pilots explained how the aircraft’s sensors, targeting systems, and survivability features are used during combat missions.
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Jacob Shealey, a standardization pilot with Bravo Company, said the discussion showed genuine interest from senior civilian leaders in the work aviators are doing daily.
“He was genuinely interested in how we employ the aircraft,” Shealey said. “We talked through the sensors and how they support the mission. It is always a good sign when senior leaders want to understand what we do at this level. Even a short engagement makes a real impact on our crews.”
The visit also highlighted the expanding partnership between the brigade and Poland’s 1st Aviation Brigade, a central effort within the Polish Apache Initiative. Through the Foreign Military Sales program, the Polish 1st Aviation Brigade is set to receive 96 AH-64E Apache helicopters, making Poland one of the largest operators of these aircraft in the world, second only to the United States.
Task Force Viper is facilitating maintenance exchanges, providing equipment support, and mentoring senior maintainers to help Poland establish the technical foundation for its future Apache fleet. Additionally, planners are developing joint air-to-ground integration training for Polish joint terminal attack controllers and Apache pilots. Polish observers have also been invited to attend upcoming gunnery events to enhance their understanding of attack aviation operations.
Interoperability work is also underway with the Polish 25th Air Cavalry Brigade. Soldiers from Task Force Viper began joint training this month and are planning to support a Polish live-fire exercise early next year with lift aircraft. This training complements the broader Polish Apache Initiative.
Together, these efforts are building cohesive, shoulder-to-shoulder teams capable of conducting air assault and attack missions under combat conditions while expanding the alliance’s attack aviation capacity.
Lt. Col. Jeffrey Murphy, commander of 1st Battalion, 3rd Aviation Regiment and Task Force Viper, said the engagement was a meaningful opportunity to show how forward-deployed soldiers contribute to NATO’s readiness every day.
“It was a really good day to showcase the abilities of the brigade and Task Force Viper,” Murphy said. “Our soldiers here in Poland support NATO every day, and they are ready to answer the nation’s call. Being able to demonstrate that to the Assistant Secretary of War, his staff, and senior policymakers was valuable.”
Zimmerman met with roughly sixty Soldiers during the visit and recognized several with coins before departing Powidz for follow-on meetings. For Task Force Viper and the 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade, the engagement served as a clear endorsement of their work to strengthen allied aviation capability and ensure American and Polish forces can respond together at a moment’s notice.
The visit also underscored how forward-deployed aviation units are shaping NATO’s deterrence posture in real time. Through the Polish Apache Initiative and daily cooperation with partner brigades across Poland, 3CAB is helping build the alliance’s next generation of attack aviation.
The work underway in Powidz is more than bilateral training, it is the steady construction of a faster, more unified command network, shared tactics that span borders, and a collective defense posture that is stronger because of the Soldiers who serve here. In this corner of Europe, the brigade is not only supporting NATO readiness, it is helping define what the future of allied aviation will look like.
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