November 1, 2015 5:22 pm
US faces renewed challenge from Russian navy
Demetri Sevastopulo in Washington
The US is debating whether to position more ships and naval assets in Europe as Russian warships and submarines operate at levels not seen in two decades, according to the new head of the US Navy.
Admiral John Richardson, chief of naval operations, told the Financial Times that the navy was reassessing its global posture in the face of the Russian activity, which stretches from the Black Sea and Mediterranean to the Pacific.
“Their submarine force and their navy are as active as they have been in a long time, 20 years or so,” Adm Richardson said in an interview. “How are we going to posture our forces to make sure that we maintain the appropriate balance and are suitably engaged?”
Adm Richardson said the navy was evaluating whether to boost its presence in Europe and the Pacific. “That’s the conversation we’re having right now.”
While some of the stepped up activity stems from Russia’s involvement in Syria, its navy has been increasingly active from the eastern US coast to the Pacific. Admiral Viktor Chirkov, the head of the Russian navy, recently said Russian submarine patrols had increased 50 per cent from 2013.
US officials are particularly alarmed by signs that Russian submarines are monitoring critical telecommunications cables on the Atlantic seabed, in activity that Adm Richardson said would be “very concerning”.
“It’s very hard to reconstitute that type of traffic in any other channel,” he said. “That would be a threat against the other global system, the information system . . . which is linked to prosperity, linked to security.”
The Russian activity comes as the US conducts new operations in the South China Sea to counter Chinese behaviour — assertive actions at sea and the construction of artificial islands — that many nations believe threatens freedom of navigation in waters that carry 30 per cent of global trade.
US Navy admiral John Richardson, Chief of Naval Operations
©Getty
Adm John Richardson, Chief of US Naval Operations
Adm Richardson said the Russian and Chinese activity underscored the need for nations to adhere to maritime rules to ensure that global commerce and prosperity are not threatened. While the South China Sea is a major trade route, another 20 per cent of trade travels through the Mediterranean.
The admiral said the “ambiguous motivations” of China and Russia raised fears about the health of a global system that ensures freedom of navigation and unfettered trade. “It again perturbs that global system,” he said. “The current model is equal access for all . . . Has that been threatened?”
Adm Richardson said President Vladimir Putin was trying to propel Russia’s navy back on to the global stage to “make sure that they’re being part of this whole conversation that’s emerging, that they’re seen as . . . serious players”, and that the phenomenon was “not a short-term thing.”
Russia has maintained strong military investment since the end of the Cold War, even in recent years despite a weakness in its economy. Adm Richardson said Russia had recently demonstrated the quality of its navy by firing cruise missiles at targets in Syria from warships in the Caspian Sea. “That’s a significant capability, a significant demonstration,” he said.
The Russian naval activity comes as the US also faces a rapidly expanding Chinese navy. Over the past two years, China has built five artificial islands in the South China Sea to boost its power projection in the Pacific.
China protested this week when a US warship sailed near one of its man-made islands in a move to show that the US does not recognise Chinese territorial claims.
Adm Richardson pointed out that the US did not object when Chinese ships recently passed through its territorial waters around the Aleutian Islands following a joint naval exercise with Russia. The US also says China is jeopardising a global maritime system that helped its economy grow dramatically over the past three decades.
“In many ways, they are behaving in full compliance and even advocating for this rule of law. Their contribution to the counter-piracy task force is one [example]. They were very clear about their freedom of navigation operation around the Aleutians,” said Adm Richardson. “It is just in these other areas, in the South China Sea they seem to be taking a different position.”
Global test of American power
James Ferguson illustration
Since the cold war ended, the overwhelming power of the US military has been the central fact of global politics. Now, in three crucial regions, that power is being tested — as America’s rivals test its resolve and the US considers when and whether to push back.
Read on
While tensions remain high in the South China Sea, Adm Richardson said the US was also paying attention to the Senkaku Islands — a chain in the East China Sea that Japan controls but China claims as the Diaoyu — where Chinese ships routinely sail inside what Japan says are its territorial waters.
“It’s something . . . you’ve just got to continue to pay close attention to,” said Adm Richardson. “While it might not be as tense as it was a couple of years ago . . . neither do we want to become complacent and take our eye off that part of the world as well and I don’t think that we are.”
Adm Richardson, who took command in September, said it was crucial for the US navy fleets and their partners around the world to work together in as seamless a way as possible, particularly in an era where resources are not unlimited, and where information sharing via technology has become critical.
He pointed to the fact that there were currently no commercial ships being held hostage by pirates near the Gulf of Aden as a successful example of the kind of multinational naval co-operation in the 21st century. China, for example, has played a role in patrolling those waters off the east coast of Africa.
Adm Richardson said the navy was also taking cyber threats more seriously than several years ago. “It’s definitely something that has increased in importance. Our awareness of it has increased. And so we understand it better, understand how critical it is.”
The former submarine commander also defended the fact that the navy did not have an aircraft carrier stationed in the Gulf. Some experts worry that the planned two-month absence — for fleet maintenance after more than a decade of US involvement in wars — could embolden Iran.
“There’s no lack of commitment there. You’ll see that once we get through this period where we’ve got a gap there, you’ll see actually increased presence going forward,” said Adm Richardson. “This will all be something that we’ll forget about pretty quickly.”
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/47314ece-80a8-11e5-8095-ed1a37d1e096.html#axzz3qHh262g0
