Ex-NATO commander says Russia, China will surpass U.S. military

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Sunday, March 5, 2017, 11:42 AM

A prominent retired general said Sunday that the U.S. military was in decline and indicated that not even President Trump's proposed $54 billion increase in defense spending was likely to prevent it from soon being surpassed by those of Russia and China.

Former NATO Commander Gen. Wesley Clark, a Democratic presidential candidate in 2004, told John Catsimatidis on the "Cats Roundtable" radio program on AM 970 in New York that, "if you look at what's happened over 25 years, the United States has mostly put its military modernization on warm idle."

"We've looked at what we need. But we have not bought the stuff that is cutting-edge We are spending our money on ordinance, on bombers, on missiles that are blowing holes in the ground and sometimes hitting terrorists," he said. "But Russia, they have produced a new generation of armored forces."

Clark said the Russian military has tanks "we'd like to have in 2030."

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"We are that far behindThat's worrisome," he said, adding that the U.S. is also "behind on the nuclear side."

U.S. air, satellite and drone systems are "all vulnerable to electro-magnetic pulse and electromagnetic warfare disruption."

"We build very sophisticated systems, but they have very obvious vulnerabilities," he said.

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But not even that would suffice, Clark contended.

"Unfortunately, the new $54 billion (that would be) going into the Defense budget doesn't really deliver sufficient funds to meet the need," he said. "We need more money than that on a sustained basis."

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Ex-NATO commander says Russia, China will surpass U.S. military ... - New York Daily News