U.S. European Command needs more troops, especially armored units, in order to provide a credible deterrent to Russian heavy mechanized units it faces along NATO’s eastern flank, according to Supreme Allied Commander Gen. Curtis Scapparrotti.
Scaparrotti, also chief of U.S. European Command (EUCOM), told lawmakers this week that the 60,000 troops under his command on the Continent are not enough to keep Russia from continued sabre rattling against the Balkans and Ukraine.
“The challenges that we have – Russia’s force is a heavy force, it’s not a light force,” he told the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies. “In order to have the posture that is both credible and of the right composition, we need more armored forces. I have one rotational brigade today. I think, frankly, I need to increase that over time to make sure we do have a force of enough size that enables us to deter Russia.”
EUCOM recently was reinforced with a rotational armored brigade combat team (ABCT), returning tanks to Europe after a decade or more. It also received a combat aviation brigade (CAB) that comes with AH-64 Apache gunships. The increase in troops and equipment came under the European Reassurance Initiative (ERI) that pumped more than $1 billion into U.S. spending to deter Russian aggression against NATO.
ERI also funded the deployment of F-22 fighters, B-52 bombers, and additional combat and lift aircraft to Europe as part of the ERI Theater Security Package.
“Looking ahead, continued congressional support for ERI will sustain these rotations and enable additional antisubmarine warfare capabilities complementing maritime domain awareness assets in Iceland that are included in the FY 2017 ERI request, Scaparrotti said in his written testimony to the subcommittee. That funding also will provide rotational Marine units that will operate from Norway and the Black Sea region.
“There is much work to do,” he said. “Our force posture needs to increase to provide credible deterrence to Russian aggression and we must have infrastructure to support this increased posture.”
Over the past 12 months, EUCOM has made progress on establishing enhanced forward presence along NATO’s eastern flank, he said. Further investments are needed in training, exercises and to increase prepositioned stocks of equipment and supplies, he said. Significant investments are needed to provide capacity for operations, exercises, training reception staging and prepositioned assets. ERI funds have jump started some of those projects, but Scaparrotti said more investment is needed.
Across the border, Russia is modernizing its forces and expanding their capabilities “in all warfighting domains,” Scaparrotti said. Of particular note are its integrated air defense systems (IADS) that combined with command-and-control, electronic warfare and long-range coastal-defense cruise missiles could deny NATO forces access to the Balkan nations in an invasion.
“Most concerning, however, is Moscow’s substantial inventory of non-strategic nuclear weapons in the EUCOM AOR and its troubling doctrine that calls on the potential use of these weapons to escalate its way out of a failing conflict,” he said.
In response, EUCOM has shifted its posture “from security cooperation and engagement to deterrence and defense,” he said. “In short, we are returning to our historic role as a war-fighting command.”
To accomplish that strategic shift, “EUCOM is coordinating across DoD to obtain the forces we need in every warfare domain,” Scaparrotti said. “This may include additional maneuver forces, combat air squadrons, anti-submarine capabilities, a carrier strike group, and maritime amphibious capabilities. We will continue to enhance our plans for pre-positioning equipment across the theater as a flexible deterrent measure and to exercise the joint reception, staging, and onward integration of CONUS-based forces into Europe.”