If Russia attacks, the US is not ready, army chiefs have warned. The Top US military chiefs have admitted they unprepared for war with global powers such as Russia and North Korea .
Leaders voiced their concerns about the lack of resources and training affecting America's readiness for combat.
US
Army Chief of Staff General Mark Milley admitted he had "grave
concerns" about the readiness of his forces to fight a "great power war"
with China, Russia, Iran or North Korea .
He
told a House Armed Services Committee hearing: "(The Army) is not at
the levels that can execute satisfactorily ... in terms of time, cost in
terms of casualties or cost in terms of military objectives."
Also
speaking at the hearing, about the Fiscal 2017 budget request for the
military, Air Force Secretary Deborah James said half of her combat
forces were not "sufficiently ready" for fighting against a country like
Russia.
"Money is helpful for readiness but freeing up the time of
our people to go and do this training is equally important," James said.
Earlier
this month, Air Force officials said they were facing a shortage of
more than 500 fighter pilots, a gap expected to widen to more than 800
by 2022.
US military spending has increased sharply since the 9/11
terror attacks and the country has by far the largest military budget in
the world.
The Army requested $148 billion in the fiscal 2017 budget, a slight increase from the $146.9 billion Army budget for 2016.
However, the 2017 Army budget would continue to shrink the
size of the US Army, which will drop to 460,000 active duty soldiers in
2017 from the current 475,000.
Concern over a more assertive
Russia was highlighted earlier this month by Air Force General Philip
Breedlove, the NATO supreme allied commander and head of US European
Command.
He admitted Russia posed a "long-term existential threat to the United States."
No comments:
Post a Comment