Stars and Stripes:
Seeking to stare down any future Russian aggression, the United States is looking to deploy more troops and sophisticated weapons to Europe, the U.S. military’s top officer told Foreign Policy.
Already, the Pentagon has been gearing up to send a third U.S. Army brigade to Eastern Europe, a move prompted by Russia’s 2014 armed intervention in Ukraine. The new deployment will ship a different armored brigade – with about 4,500 troops – to Eastern Europe on nine-month rotations. The rotational brigade will join two other Army brigades permanently stationed in Europe.
Now, as American commanders draw up a budget request for fiscal year 2018, military leaders are looking at deploying even more troops and hardware to Eastern Europe. The funding request also will include investments in space systems, cyber weapons, and ballistic missile defense designed to check a resurgent Russia, Gen. Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told Foreign Policy in an interview.
Asked if the U.S. military presence in Eastern Europe would be expanded beyond the measures already taken over the past year, Dunford said, “I don’t think we’re done in that regard.”
He added, “We’ll have some other recommendations about how to go forward.”
The Marine general spoke to FP before a ceremony Tuesday in the German city of Stuttgart, where Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti took over as the new commander of U.S. forces in Europe.
Only a few years ago, the Obama administration was pursuing a swift reduction of U.S. forces in Europe despite objections from some Pentagon commanders. The drawdown was driven by intense budget pressures and a focus on threats in the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific region.
But since Russia’s incursion in Ukraine, including the unilateral annexation of the Crimean peninsula, the United States has reversed course and invested $3.4 billion in exercises and other activities as part of what it calls a European Reassurance Initiative.
Another U.S. defense official recently told FP that the Pentagon believes Russia still has 7,000 troops in Ukraine, and can continue to fund and equip simultaneous operations there and in Syria for at least two more years.
Within NATO, meanwhile, some alliance members are considering sending ground troops to Eastern Europe as well. Dunford, however, said addressing Russia’s threat required more than boots on the ground.
“It’s the 21st century, so it’s about a lot more than numbers of brigades. You have to look at the investments we’re making in a full range of capabilities,” he said.
The four-star general cited efforts to bolster space systems, cyber weapons, long-range bombers, ballistic missile defenses, and other measures to reassure allies while deterring Russia. Moscow’s tactics in Ukraine have relied in part on electronic jamming, special forces, and cyber and information warfare.
Dunford said moves in years past to scale back the U.S. footprint in Europe were understandable at the time, particularly as a number of diplomatic initiatives had been expected to improve ties with Moscow.
