There are dramatic plans afoot to consolidate the United States’ presence in Europe as the Pentagon revealed its intentions to move thousands of U.S. military and civilian personnel out of bases mostly in the United Kingdom and Portugal and either place them in other bases or send them stateside. The effort, remark Pentagon officials, could save the U.S. as much as $500 million each year.

Specifically, the proposed changes would impact U.S. presence in The United Kingdom the most. As the force reduction/move earmarks mainly Army and Air Force personnel and facilities, and would result in the overall displacement of nearly 2,000 U.S. workers in the United Kingdom. Consequently, nearly 3,200 individuals would come out of RAF Mildenhall while about 1,200 staff would be added at RAF Lakenheath with two squadrons of F-35 fighters.

The concept of force reduction is not anything new. The Pentagon has been slowly but surely taking U.S. Military forces out of Europe for more than a decade. Not only does this track with a systematic decrease in the force strength of the Marine Corps and the U.S. Army, but the move also reflects a change in military priorities as there is currently increased emphasis to augment troop strength in Eastern Europe and other regions where tensions with Russia have grown of late.

The U.S. has selected RAF Lakenheath in Britain as its first move to off-set the effects of troop reductions in the U.K. This relocation represents the first European permanent base for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. To be sure, the move will not happen overnight: the first F-35 aircraft would arrive in the U.K. In 2020 and they will rotate F-15 fighter jets, which are on the way out of the region.

The restructuring plan would allow for the removal of troops from nearly 15 military locations and those bases would ultimately be returned to the respective host nations. Additional troop and installation consolidation would take effect in Germany as well. The end result being that the U.S. would end up with several more troops in the Rhine after shifting some from the United Kingdom.

In an Associated press news article, the Assistant Defense Secretary for International Security Affairs, Mr Derek Chollet, told Pentagon reporters that the troop and base consolidation will not affect U.S. military operations nor would it impede America’s ability to respond to its European partners.

All told there are nearly 67,000 U.S. forces spread out all across Europe. The cost of the resulting closures and force realignments could cost as much as $1.4 billion, but overall savings would significantly eclipse that amount over time.

The ripple effect of base closures is not all positive: force and base reductions can signal heavy economic impact on the host nations particularly in regards to loss of employment for local nationals who support base operations, maintenance and other services. Base closures could potentially eliminate nearly 2,500 host nation jobs.

Despite the move to close bases across Europe, thanks to a consistent schedule of training and exercises, the U.S. military is actually increasing its efforts to rotate forces in and out of the European theater. And with its NATO allies worried about Russian aggression, in 2014 alone the U.S. has deployed a robust selection of troops, including special operations forces, to exercises and training in Eastern Europe.