Foggo: Russia, China on the Move, From the Arctic to the Med by Otto Kreisher of Seapower Magazine

The commander of U.S. and allied naval forces in Europe and Africa said he is dealing with increased activities by both Russia and China in his vast area of responsibility — which stretches from the Arctic to the southern tip of Africa — despite a shortage of resources.

“We do the best we can with what we have,” Adm. James G. Foggo III, commander, U.S. Forces Europe and Africa, and commander, Allied Joint Forces Command Naples, said Dec. 18.

“It’s an extremely large tactical area” and “setting priorities is the biggest challenge — where do you go,” Foggo said. He must look at the entire theater, which covers all of Europe, the Mediterranean and Black seas, the Baltics, the Arctic and Eastern Atlantic, down to the Cape of Good Hope.

“When there are tensions, you try to go where the tensions are” or respond to something that might threaten allies. “You have to be flexible, agile.”

A career submariner, Foggo said the Russians are operating some very capable submarines in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, including new Kilo-class diesel-electric boats, which are very quiet. “It’s important we know where they are because they have Kalibr (cruise) missiles that can reach anywhere in Europe.” He said Russia also is building anti-access, area-denial capabilities in Crimea, installing anti-ship cruise missiles and S-300 and S-400 advanced air- and missile-defense weapons.

Although he seldom gets a carrier strike group in his theater, due to the focus on the Persian Gulf and the Pacific, Foggo praised the Virginia-class fast attack subs he gets, which “move very fast” so he can put them where he needs them.

“We’re very, very busy in the undersea domain, busiest I’ve ever seen,” he said. “We are challenged by resources,” although the nation has been “very generous” in defense funding. “But we’re in a great power competition,” he added, citing Russia and China. “We still maintain the competitive edge and need to do so.”

Although Russia is operating frequently all around his AOR, China is mainly active in Africa, buying access and support with loans and construction projects that frequently come with demands for long-term access to ports, such as in Djibouti, where it has a large military facility next door to the U.S. base.

China also is increasingly active in the Arctic, where Russia is trying to create dominance as the polar ice cap shrinks, Foggo said. “We’ve seen much more Chinese activity up there than before,” and Russia and China “are collaborating in the Arctic.”

Foggo noted the value of the allied and partner nations that contribute to security in his command area, the increased defense spending by NATO nations and the recent re-establishment of the U.S. 2nd Fleet in Norfolk and the Joint Forces command in Naples in response to the Russian threat.

While noting the lack of unprofessional or unsafe activities by Russian forces for several months, Foggo cited the “unsafe” activities of a Russian spy vessel currently operating close to the U.S. Atlantic coast and refusing to respond to radio contact and sailing without running lights at night.

Original article can be found here

Other articles:

Military Times: Russian spy ship lurking off US coast conducting ‘unsafe operation’

USNI News: Foggo: Navy Needs Unmanned ISR, Tankers to Counter Russia

Military.com: Navy Admiral: Russian Submarine Activity Highest US Has Seen In a Long Time

TASS: US Navy Commander in Europe and Africa Highly Appreciates Russian Submarine Fleet

Conservative Junction: UPDATE: USA warns Russia over spy ship off East Coast…

North Korea Could Fire Long-Range Missile: U.S. General by Ryota Dei of Jiji Press

Washington, Dec. 17 (Jiji Press)--North Korea could fire a long-range ballistic missile in the coming weeks in what it described as a "Christmas gift" to the United States, Gen. Charles Brown, commander of U.S. Pacific Air Forces, suggested on Tuesday.
The comments by Brown came after North Korea said earlier this month that it is up to the United States what Christmas gift it will choose to get at a time when denuclearization talks between Washington and Pyongyang have stalled.
"Some type of long-range ballistic missile would be the gift," Brown told Jiji Press and some other media outlets in Washington.
"You can listen to the rhetoric and various tests that occurred over the past week or two that are all indications that there's activity," Brown said of North Korea. "Their rhetoric precedes activity which precedes a launch," he said.
While stressing the importance of U.S. forces backstopping diplomatic efforts, Brown said that if the diplomatic efforts fall apart, "we've got to be ready."

Original article can be found here.

Other articles:

Defense One:  US Military Should Add Deception to its Playbook, Pacific Air Forces General Says

Breaking: PACOM braces for long-range DPRK missile; More Afghanistan withdrawals coming?; Fooling satellites; Military planning should add economic tools; And a bit more.

CNN: North Korean tests raise concern and pressure for Trump diplomacy

Military Times: Here’s what PACAF’s commander thinks N. Korea’s ‘Christmas gift’ to US will be

Military.com: Air Force General Predicts What North Korea's 'Christmas Gift' to US Will Be

Air Force Times: Here’s what PACAF’s commander thinks N. Korea’s ‘Christmas gift’ to US will be

Politico: “The top Air Force commander in the Pacific says he is anticipating a possible North Korean long-range missile test over the holidays after Pyongyang's warning earlier this month of a ‘Christmas gift,’”

TASS: US records preparation of DPRK for possible launch of long-range missiles

Pentagon: there are no unprofessional actions between the Russian Armed Forces in the Pacific

The Hill: Air Force general: North Korea 'Christmas gift' could be long-range missile test

Defense News: North Korean ‘Christmas gift’ to the US could be a long-range ballistic missile test

Aviation Week: USAF Invites Indo-Pacom Nations to Use F-35 At Red Flag

U.S. Awaits North Korean Missile Launch

Why the US's top military commander in Europe goes to bed thinking about how to get around the continent by Chris Woody of Business Insider

Since Russia's 2014 incursion in Ukraine, NATO leaders have been focused on securing the alliance's eastern flank.

But defending that boundary and deterring threats to member countries there takes more than just deploying troops. It means moving them in and out, and, if necessary, reinforcing them, and that's something that's always on US and European military commanders' minds.

"I will tell you that when I go to sleep at night, it's probably the last thought I have, that we need to continue to improve upon, and we are, from a road, rail, and air perspective, in getting large quantities of hardware and software from west to east on continent," US Air Force Gen. Tod Wolters, head of US European Command, said at a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

The US, which has drawn down its forces in Europe since the end of the Cold War, has put particular focus on both returning to Europe in force and on moving those forces around the continent.

This has included working at ports not used since the Cold War and practicing to move personnel, vehicles, and material overland throughout Central and Eastern Europe.

"We're improving, but I will tell you, as a supreme allied commander of Europe and a commander of US EUCOM, I'm just not satisfied," Wolters said. "It's got to continue to get better and better and better, and we are dedicating tremendous energy to this very issue."

"In US EUCOM, we have directors, which are flag officers that work for me, and they're called J codes, and our J4 is our logistician, and he's a Navy flag officer, and he's probably one of the busiest human beings on the European continent," Wolters added. "He gets to sleep about one hour a day, and his whole life exists from a standpoint of finding ways to improve our ability to move large quantities at speed from west to east in road, rail, and air, across the European continent."

The renewed focus on moving US and NATO forces around Europe has highlighted the obstacles posed by varying customs rules and regulations, insufficient infrastructure, and shortages of proper transport vehicles.

Those would be challenges for any peacetime mobilization and led NATO to conclude in a 2017 report that its ability to rapidly deploy around Europe had "atrophied since the end of the Cold War."

To correct that deficiency, NATO has stood up two new commands. One, Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia, will oversee movements across the Atlantic. The other, Joint Support Enabling Command based in Ulm in southern Germany, is responsible for movement on the ground in Europe.

"We've also recognized the need in NATO to improve in this area," Wolters said. "Through NATO command structure adaptation ... we elected to standup an entire new command called Joint Support Enabling Command, JSEC, and it's run by ... a NATO flag officer, and that commander's sole purpose in life is to nest with all the nations to find ways to improve our ability to move large resources at speed from west to east across the continent."

That will be on display during Defender Europe 20, the US Army's largest exercise in Europe in 25 years, which will involve 37,000 troops from 18 countries — including 20,000 US troops deployed from the US — and take place in 10 countries in Europe.

Defender Europe 20's actual drills won't take place until next year, but, Wolters said, "it's already started, because the benefit of a large exercise is all the planning that takes place beforehand."

"The strategic message is we can demonstrate our flexibility and adaptability to lift and shift large forces to any place on planet Earth to effectively deter ... and that's incredibly valuable," Wolters said.

But, he added, getting the logistics right on the ground may be the biggest obstacle.

"We want to make sure that from a border-crossing perspective and from a capability perspective in those 10 nations in particular that we've got it right with respect to our ability to lift and shoot and move and communicate with an exercise at speed," Wolters said.

"There will be some snags along the way. We will find things that we're not happy with. We will after-action review those. We will find remedies in the future, and when we have another large-scale exercise we'll demonstrate an ability to get through those snags ... and we'll just be that much quicker and that much faster in the future."

Original article can be found here

Pentagon official says there are indications Iranian 'aggression' could occur by Idrees Ali of Reuters

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A senior Pentagon official said on Wednesday there were indications that Iran could potentially carry out aggressive actions in the future, amid simmering tensions between Tehran and Washington.

Tensions in the Gulf have risen since attacks on oil tankers during the summer, including off the coast of the United Arab Emirates, and a major assault on energy facilities in Saudi Arabia. The United States has blamed Iran, which has denied being behind the attacks on global energy infrastructure.

“We also continue to see indications, and for obvious reasons I won’t go into the details, that potential Iranian aggression could occur,” John Rood, the Pentagon’s No. 3 official, told reporters.

Rood did not provide details about what information he was basing that on or any timeline.

“We’ve sent very clear and blunt signals to the Iranian government about the potential consequences of aggression,” Rood said.

Two U.S. officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said there was intelligence over the past month indicating that Iran was moving forces and weapons in the region.

It was not clear what specifically Iran was looking to do with the movements, they added.