美軍將領警告：俄羅斯準備挑戰美國軍力優勢

Russia's campaign to Modernize and strengthen its armed forces is increasingly putting U.S. and European forces at risk, with some defense officials raising concerns Moscow's military soon could challenge the U.S. and its allies for dominance across the continent.

Most of the focus in recent weeks has been on Russia's newfound confidence in its nuclear arsenal after President Vladimir Putin boasted about four new delivery systems designed to make U.S. defenses “useless.”

Of equal concern to U.S. and European officials, however, is Russia's re-made conventional military might, which has been displayed and tested in places like Ukraine and Syria.

“Russia's increasingly modernized military is operating at levels not seen since the Cold War," the commander of U.S. forces in Europe, Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, told lawmakers in Washington, Thursday, warning the U.S. has no choice but to keep pace.

Scaparrotti, who also serves as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, further underscored that any failure by Washington to continue to modernize its forces could enable Russia to challenge the U.S. “in almost every domain, in a military perspective, by 2025.”

A new report by the Rand Corporation concludes Eastern Europe is especially vulnerable, warning NATO ground forces there would be “badly outnumbered and outgunned” if Moscow were to launch a conventional attack.

According to the report, while Russia has about 78,000 troops along Europe's eastern flank, NATO has just 32,000. Russian tanks also outnumber NATO tanks 757 to 129.

Questioned by members of the Senate Armed Services Committee Thursday, Gen. Scaparrotti pushed back against some of those concerns, noting any potential conflict would not be fought with ground forces and tanks alone.俄羅斯軍事現代化和軍力的加強日益對美國和歐洲部隊構成威脅。一些國防官員擔心，俄羅斯軍力不久將挑戰美國及其盟國的軍力優勢。

俄羅斯總統普京不久前炫耀俄羅斯四個新的發射系統，能讓美國的防禦“毫無用處”，展示了俄羅斯對其核武庫重建的信心，成爲外界關注焦點。

同樣引起美國和歐洲官員關注的是俄羅斯對其常規軍隊的重新打造，其實力在烏克蘭和敘利亞等地已經受了考驗。

美國駐歐洲司令部司令柯蒂斯·斯卡帕羅蒂將軍星期四在華盛頓告訴國會說：“俄羅斯日趨現代化的軍隊的運轉已達到冷戰以來前所未有的程度。”斯卡帕羅蒂將軍警告說，美國除了與之並駕齊驅，別無選擇。

斯卡帕羅蒂將軍進一步強調，如果美國不繼續推動軍隊現代化，到2025年的時候，俄羅斯就可能在“軍事上的幾乎所有領域內挑戰美國。”

蘭德公司最近的一份報告也得出結論說，東歐地區尤其脆弱。報告警告說，如果俄羅斯發動常規進攻，東歐地區的北約部隊在“人數和武器裝備上都遠遠不及俄羅斯”。

報告說，俄羅斯在歐洲東翼有大約7萬8千名士兵，而北約只有3萬2千人。俄羅斯有757架坦克，北約只有129架。

然而，美國國會參議院軍事委員會成員星期四向斯卡帕羅蒂將軍提出這個問題時，斯卡帕羅蒂將軍卻表示，該地區任何可能發生的衝突都不會完全仰仗地面部隊和坦克來完成。