‘US plans to increase presence of carrier strike group to counter Russia’

WASHINGTON (Sputnik): The US is set to expand the rotational presence of guided missile destroyers and attack submarines to counter Russia in Europe, US European Command (USEUCOM) chief Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti said in congressional testimony on Tuesday.

“Additionally, USEUCOM is working with the Department to increase the rotational presence of guided missile destroyers, a Carrier Strike Group, and attack submarines, all of which provide lethal combat power to deter our adversaries and counter growing threats in the undersea domain,” Scaparotti told the US Senate Armed Services Committee.

Scaparrotti stressed that additional maritime capabilities are being requested to boost the lethality in the maritime domain and “to counter Russian maritime capabilities.”

“Similar to the land and air domains, this necessitates infrastructure improvements to seaports of debarkation (SPOD) as well as prepositioning critical naval capabilities such as munitions.”

“The FY19 request also provides additional capability for antisubmarine warfare (ASW) sensors and platforms such as the P-8s,” Scaparrotti said.

US military officials regularly citing the “Russian threat”, speaking about the American growing military capabilities. Thus, US Navy Secretary Richard Spencer has called Moscow “a menacing threat”, after in December the US guided missile destroyer McCampbell entered the Sea of Japan to challenge what the United States has called “Russia’s excessive maritime claims” and uphold the lawful uses of the sea.

A year ago, then US Defense Secretary James Mattis presented the new US Defense Strategy, which claimed that Washington was facing growing threats from different revisionist powers, including Russia.

As Defense Secretary explained, Moscow aimed to shatter NATO, change European and Middle East security in its favour. Henceforth, the US envisages strategic competition with Russia and other “revisionist powers” as a long-term priority for the Pentagon.