Russia Upping Capacity to ‘Ukraine’ Neighbors

Jan 19, 2015 16:42 UTC

The Commander of U.S. Army forces in Europe, Lt Gen Ben Hodges, is quoted as revealing the analysis that Russia currently can’t threaten more than one Ukraine-level conflict at once without significant pre-mobilization that would warn a victim country and allies, but that within a few years – assuming current procurement policies continuing – Russia could conduct three such operations simultaneously. The statement came during a Russia Study Day conducted in Germany among various military russophiles.

Navy officials continue to promulgate their new-found advocacy for having more ships and putting weapons – if not armor – on all of them.
The U.S. Air Force is starting integration training with combinations of F-22 and F-35 pilots.
U.S. A-10 Warthog aircraft were reportedly targeted by ISIS forces using SA-7 Grail (Strela-2) missiles. The U.S. destroyed 5,000 of those missiles when they were found in Libya, although another 15,000 were reportedly missing in the confusion of the revolution. Syria also has them in their inventory.

The U.S. has been trying to find ways to collaborate with India on defense procurement, with many potential offsets proscribed by tough U.S. export regulations. But by picking several relatively widespread technologies, such as those used in the RQ-11B mini-UAV, Frank Kendall, the U.S.’s key man on defense acquisition, was visiting India trying to jumpstart some projects.
The formidable Russian-Indian anti-ship missile BrahMos isn’t invincible, according to a rough capabilities analysis.

Admiral Gary Roughead, Chief of Naval Operations and a member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff explains why the Navy will become more important over time and points out that its shrinking surface forces (down to 288 vessels, a number not seen since 1916) do not appear consistent with the increasing need (see 13:30). The key question about how the Navy could increase its share of the pie comes at 26:45. The answer appears to be more LCS: