US Vice Admiral Calls for Boosting Navy to Counter Russia, China at Sea

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Vice Adm. Richard Brown, commander of US Naval Surface Forces, has suggested that the Navy needs both manned and unmanned vessels to fight China and Russia for control of the seas.

"We… need medium and large Unmanned Surface Vessels. We need a capable Frigate and we need a new Large Surface Combatant", the Vice Admiral said at a naval symposium in Arlington, Virginia on Wednesday.

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He called China and Russia two “resurgent nations” that were challenging the United States respectively along the East Asian continental coast, and in the Eastern Mediterranean and North Atlantic.

The Navy should prepare for a great power competition that could be an “even sterner test than the Cold War,” he warned, adding the United States had to work harder at maintaining sea control and continue to get better.