The head of the United States Strategic Command (Stratcom), Admiral Charles Richard, warned last week that the war in Ukraine is just a «warm-up» for the worst yet to come.
In particular, he emphasized that the war in Ukraine is not the largest conflict the U.S. will face and that the U.S. must be prepared for a global conflict with China.
«This crisis in Ukraine is just the warm-up,» Richard said during his speech at the Naval Submarine League's 2022 Annual Symposium.
«Something big is coming. And it won’t be long before we’re put to the test in ways we haven’t been for a long time,» he added, and continued:
«We need to make a rapid, fundamental change in the way we approach our defense (…) As I assess our level of deterrence against China, I can say that “the ship is sinking slowly.” It’s sinking slowly, but it is sinking,» as China is developing its military capabilities faster than the U.S.
«As these (growth) trends continue, it doesn’t matter how good our operational plan is or how good our commanders or our weapons are,» since «we won’t have enough of them,» and this «is a very short-term problem.».
Richard also said that the U.S. should look to its past military development to see how it could increase its dominance in the international military arena.
«We used to know how to move quickly,» but «we've lost that skill.».
«We need to get back to work and stop talking about how we’ll mitigate our potential, possible failure,» he emphasized.
