Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey appeared before the Senate House Armed Services Committee today to discuss the president’s fiscal year 2015 budget request for DOD, and Hagel mentioned the Ukraine situation.
In his remarks Hagel said that, over the past few days, he and Dempsey have been in constant touch with their fellow ministers and chiefs of defense in NATO, Russia and Ukraine.
Hagel: “Across the administration, our efforts have been focused on de-escalating crisis, supporting the new Ukrainian government with economic assistance and reaffirming our commitments to allies in Central and Eastern Europe…I strongly support the administration’s approach to this de-escalation.”
Hagel said that he had directed the Department of Defense to suspend all military-to-military engagements and exercises with Russia, including two scheduled trilateral exercises with the Russians, one with the Canadians and Russians and the other with the Norwegians and Russians and that DOD “is pursuing measures to support our allies, including stepping up joint training through our aviation detachment in Poland … and augmenting our participation in NATO’s air policing mission on the Baltic Peninsula.”
For his part, Dempsey has been talking to his NATO counterparts, in particular those in the Baltics and Eastern Europe.
“During our conversations, we committed to developing options to provide those assurances and to deter further Russian aggression, [and] we agreed that together we must help shape a path back to sovereignty and security for all the people of the Ukraine,” Dempsey said.
Dempsey recommended suspension of the department’s military-to-military exchanges with the Russian Federation and directed Eucom to consult and plan within the construct of the North Atlantic Council. “Obviously, we want to provide NATO’s leaders with options that stabilize and not escalate tension in the Ukraine,” he said, “but we are only one part of that equation.”
(Source for the above: Cheryl Pellerin, American Forces Press Service)
Following Hagel’s announcement that the United States is augmenting its participation in NATO’s air policing mission in the Baltics and will increase joint training through its aviation detachment in Poland, a defense official provided additional information.
American Forces Press Service:
In a statement provided on background, the official said the United States currently provides four F-15s to fill NATO’s January-through-April air policing rotation in the Baltics.
For the past 10 years, the official said, allies have provided on-call aircraft on a rotational basis to help in identifying and responding to violations of Baltic airspace. In addition to the United States, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Portugal, Belgium, Poland, Romania, Turkey and Czech Republic all contributed rotations over time since the mission’s inception, the official added.
This week, the United States will send six additional F-15s and one KC-135 to augment the mission, the official said. These aircraft — currently based at Lakenheath in the United Kingdom — will be deployed to Siauliai Air Base in Lithuania.
This action comes at the request of the United States’ Baltic allies and “further demonstrates our commitment to NATO security,” the official said.
Poland hosts 10 U.S Air Force personnel to support rotations of U.S. F-16s and C-130s for joint training with the Polish air force, the official said. The aviation detachment, or AVDET, is a practical way to strengthen interoperability with a key NATO ally, the official added, and represents the first continuous presence of a U.S. military unit on Polish soil.
The AVDET has supported four training rotations for U.S. aircraft since late 2012. During his trip to Poland earlier this year, the official noted, Hagel visited with U.S. and Polish airmen from the AVDET alongside Polish Defense Minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
The detachment’s presence in Poland also makes it possible to host multiple allied Air Force elements and serve as a regional hub for air training and multinational exercises, the official said, and the Defense Department is consulting with Polish allies on increasing activities associated with the detachment.
Lead Photo: Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey appearing before the Senate House Armed Services Committee. Photo DOD
