Trump says the US is 'at war' with the coronavirus - here's what the military is bringing to the fight

US Army researchers at Army Medical Research and Development Command and Fort Detrick in Maryland and the Center for Infectious Disease Research at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research have been involved in conducting research on a possible coronavirus vaccine.

"They are making great progress there," Secretary of Defense Mark Esper said Wednesday.

Army medical research officials say it could take 12 to 18 months, if not longer, to develop a vaccine.

As of Wednesday morning, there were roughly 2,000 National Guard personnel responding to COVID-19 in 23 states. They have been disinfecting public spaces, handing out food, and providing transportation and logistics support.

Esper said Tuesday that "the Department of Defense will make available up to 5 million N95 respirator masks and other personal protective equipment from our own strategic reserves to Health and Human Services for distribution."

The secretary added that "the first 1 million masks will be made available immediately."

Additionally, the department is providing up to 2,000 deployable ventilators.

The Pentagon has also directed that the hospital ships USNS Mercy and USNS Comfort be prepared to deploy.

The two Military Sealift Command hospital ships will require a couple of weeks, possibly more, before they are ready to assist.

The Comfort is expected to support New York, while the Mercy will support a yet-to-be-determined location on the West Coast.

"We have also alerted a variety of field and expeditionary hospitals to deploy as needed," Esper said Wednesday.

The US military has a number of rapidly deployable medical units at its disposal, including the Air Force expeditionary medical system, Army combat support hospitals and field hospitals, and Navy expeditionary medical facilities.

As of Wednesday, the Department of Defense has also made a total of 16 certified coronavirus testing labs available to test non-DoD personnel.

"We hope this will provide excess capacity to the civilian population," Esper said Tuesday.

The US military has also been involved with transporting supplies, the Pentagon revealed Wednesday.

The US Air Force transported 500,000 COVID-19 test swabs from Italy to Memphis, Tennessee this week in a C-17 cargo aircraft. In Memphis, the swabs were loaded onto FedEx aircraft for distribution.