WASHINGTON - The United States plans to complete the withdrawal of two of its four army brigades stationed in Europe in 2014, the Army chief of staff General Ray Odierno said Friday.

"We will decrease our European footprint by two heavy brigade combat teams, with the first one coming out of Europe in 2013" and the second in 2014, Odierno told reporters.

The two units are "heavy brigade combat teams" that will not be restationed in the United States, in line with plans announced this week to streamline the number of active duty forces, he said.

US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on Thursday proposed taking 75,000 Army troops off active duty as the debt-ridden United States winds down a decade of war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He proposed reducing the number of active US Army soldiers from 570,000 in 2010 to 490,000 by 2017 and reducing the Marines' strength from 202,000 to 182,000 over the same period.

Each of the heavy brigade combat teams includes 3,800 troops, a spokesman for the army's European command told AFP. In addition to the 7,600 soldiers heading home, nearly 20,000 of their relatives will also be repatriated.

There are some 81,000 US troops in Europe, according to Pentagon data released in September 2011. About half of them are army troops stationed in Germany.

Odierno said the two brigades to be withdrawn would be identified within a few weeks.

Of the four US brigades in Europe, three are in Germany and one is stationed in Italy. Sources speculated that two of the Germany-based units would be dissolved.

"In order to continue our strong engagements with NATO and other European partners, we will deploy rotational forces to conduct training and readiness exercises with our allies and our new partners," Odierno said.