Credit: US Embassy in Luxembourg
On Thursday 31 March 2022, United States (US) Ambassador to Luxembourg Thomas Barrett, members of the Chamber of Deputies (Luxembourg's Parliament), the Ministry of Defence and the Luxembourg Army visited the Warehouse Service Agency (WSA) complex in Sanem, the US Air Forces in Europe’s (USAFE) largest depot, housing 85% of its war reserve materiel.
The WSA, established by the Luxembourg Government, provides critical storage and maintenance facilities supporting NATO, US Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA) and US Army operations. The WSA maintains, repairs and stores military materials and equipment for rapid worldwide deployment within 24 hours for any contingency. No weapons are stored in the facility.
Fernand Etgen, President of the Chamber of Deputies, said: "In Luxembourg, we feel honoured to host the WSA and thus to contribute to supporting our Allies and friends. Notwithstanding the many other good examples of our bilateral cooperation, the WSA represents a concrete expression of the excellent partnership between the US and our country. Russia's illegitimate aggression against Ukraine has proven the necessity to further deepening the cooperation between the NATO-Allies and to adapt the current Strategic Concept of the military Alliance in order to reflect the new challenges".
US Ambassador Thomas Barrett commented: "I am grateful to the government of Luxembourg for the critical support the WSA provides to the United States Air Forces. This facility is one example of the multifaceted defense cooperation between the United States, Luxembourg and NATO, and this demonstration of Luxembourg’s contribution to NATO’s collective defence is an important step towards meeting the formal commitment all NATO members, including the Grand Duchy, made at the 2014 Wales Summit to meet the 2% defence spending guideline".
During the visit, the members were briefed on the strategic importance of the WSA complex to US and NATO operations and received a tour of the facilities demonstrating the extensive equipment stored and maintained on site.
The WSA facility provides over 200 jobs to the Sanem and Luxembourg community and contributes to the local hospitality economy (estimated €300,000 annual local investment) with large numbers of regular US and NATO military visitors to the site.
