Defense: The fruit of unilateral disarmament, appeasement and promised "flexibility" patrols our East Coast near one of our largest ballistic missile submarine bases. Defense cuts and Russian subs — a double whammy.
'On June 1 or a bit later, we will resume constant patrolling of the world's oceans by strategic nuclear submarines," Russian Navy Commander Admiral Vladimir Vysotsky said in February. Keeping that promise, a Russian Sierra-2 class nuclear attack submarine cruised within 200 miles of our East Coast on the eve of a U.S. presidential election in which defense spending and priorities were a key issue.
This is the first time a Russian Sierra-2 class sub, believed to be based with Russia's Northern Fleet and armed with SSN anti-submarine warfare missiles and torpedoes, has been detected near the U.S. coast, reports Bill Gertz of the Washington Free Beacon.
"As was their primary mission during the Cold War, Russian SSNs nuclear attack submarines would likely be trying to track U.S. nuclear missile submarines deploying from Kings Bay, Ga., and to monitor U.S. naval deployments from Norfolk, Va.," according to Richard Fisher, a military analyst with the International Assessment and Strategy Center. Two guided missile submarines and six nuclear missile submarines are docked at Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base.
The Sierra-2 is comparable to the U.S. Los Angeles-class attack submarine. Russia is building a new class of attack submarines said to be comparable to the latest U.S. Virginia-class subs, Fisher says. The attack sub was accompanied by a nearby Russian electronic intelligence-gathering vessel that was granted safe harbor during Hurricane Sandy in the commercial port of Jacksonville, Fla., within listening range of Kings Bay.
Russian nuclear sub patrols, which fell sharply after the defeat of the Soviet Union, have returned with a vengeance after the famous pressing of the "reset" button by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. As we've noted, a more advanced and harder-to-detect Russian Akula-class attack submarine sailed undetected in the Gulf of Mexico in August along vital U.S. shipping lanes.
So as we gut our military budget and scrap major weapons systems, Russia continues to rearm. It recently announced the deployment of a new submarine-launched ballistic missile — a three-stage weapon with a 5,000-mile range that can carry up to 10 warheads.
The U.S. Navy has indicated a need for 313 ships to fulfill its obligations, while the Quadrennial Defense Review Independent Panel recommended a fleet of 346 ships. If current budget cuts aren't reversed and sequestration of defense funds mandated by the Budget Control Act remain in place, the Navy will shrink to 238 vessels and would lose two carrier battle groups.
In October, Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw perhaps Russia's largest strategic nuclear exercise involving its nuclear "triad" of long-range bombers, land-based ICBMs, and sub-launched ballistic missiles.
The exercise included the launch of the land-mobile Topol intercontinental ballistic missile from the Plesetsk missile base in the Arkhangelsk region.
As part of the exercise, a nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine of the Pacific Fleet launched a missile from the Sea of Okhotsk to the Chizha testing ground in the north of European Russia, and strategic bombers launched four missiles to the Pemboi testing site in the Urals region.
A half-trillion dollars in defense-spending reductions are scheduled to kick in Jan. 2. These cuts will be in addition to the recently approved $487 billion in cuts to the Defense Department and threaten not only to put our national security in jeopardy but also gut the highly skilled workforce in the aerospace industry.
Providing for the national defense is a constitutional imperative, not a discretionary budget item.
Sequestration must be stopped and the arsenal of democracy adequately funded.
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