US deployment of F-22 fighter jets to Europe dangerous policy: Analyst
The US deployment of advanced warplanes to NATO allies in Europe amid tensions with Russia over the crisis in Ukraine is a “dangerous” policy that makes the US less safe, a foreign policy analyst says.
“It’s hard to overstate how dangerous and absurd this deployment is,” James Jatras said Wednesday during a phone interview with Press TV.
“These countries being allied with us in NATO are making us less safe and less secure here in America than more so,” Jatras said.
US Air Force Secretary Deborah James said during a visit to the Paris Air Show on Monday that the US could deploy stealthy F-22 fighter jets as a show of force against Russian actions in Ukraine and elsewhere around the continent.
"I could easily see the day -- though I couldn't tell you the day exactly -- when the F-22, for example, rotates in is a possibility. I don't see why that couldn't happen in the future," she said.
"The biggest threat on my mind is what's happening with Russia and the activities of Russia," she added. "It's extremely worrisome on what's going on in the Ukraine."
For months, the Pentagon has been rotating aircraft through Europe, including B-2 and B-52 bombers, for exercises with allies under Operation Atlantic Resolve, which it calls "America's commitment to European security."
James said the F-22 Raptor, the Pentagon's premier fighter, could join that list. The fighter jets, which were designed primarily as an air superiority fighter, can be configured to attack other aircraft or bomb ground targets.
This comes as the Pentagon plans to store heavy weaponry, tanks and other vehicles for as many as 5,000 American troops in eastern European countries bordering Russia, US officials said Saturday.
The deployment of advanced equipment would be the first such move since the Cold War ended with the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
A Russian defense official said on Monday that Moscow would swiftly respond to any moves by Washington to build up military resources in Europe by fortifying its western border with more troops, tanks, planes and missile systems.
Ties between Washington and Moscow have reached an all-time low over the crisis in Ukraine, which began after pro-Western forces ousted the country’s president, Viktor Yanukovych, in February 2014.
Tensions further intensified after Ukraine’s Black Sea peninsula of Crimea voted for reunification with Russia in March last year.
AHT/AGB
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