Gen. Hawk Carlisle, the Air Combat Command commander, engages with the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces during a hearing in Washington, D.C., July 13, 2016. (Photo: Senior Airman Hailey Haux)
The Pentagon should consider more discussions with Russia as the battlespace continues to grow more complex in Iraq and Syria in the fight against the Islamic State, a top U.S. Air Force general said Friday.
"There is room to elevate [talks with Russia]," Gen. Herbert "Hawk" Carlisle, head of Air Combat Command, told reporters during a breakfast in Washington, D.C. "We have constant communication with the Russians and, when we do, the deconfliction is incredibly valuable."
The Washington Post reported senior U.S. military officials are considering more talks, even if it could be construed as increased cooperation with Moscow. Carlisle, who will retire next month after leading the command since 2014 and having almost 40 years in service, said while he has not been intimately involved in the ongoing discussions, it's an obvious choice.
"Increased dialogue has got to happen because it's going to become more and more complex as time goes on. And as we continue to squeeze ISIS and continue to take more territory away from them, it becomes more complex," he said. "I think we have to continue to work that avenue because in the defeat of ISIS, everything we do ... as we work together with the Russians [is] incredibly important in the deconfliction -- to [avoid] any miscalculations, any mistakes, any unintended consequences."
Carlisle continued, "To me, it makes sense. The more you can build an understanding between those flying in the same … airspace, the better off you're going to be."
The U.S. is operating under a memorandum of understanding signed in 2015, which established a phone "hotline" the militaries could use to alert one another of actions they're taking in Syria.
Officials including the Air Force's top general in the Middle East, Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Harrigian; U.S. Central Command commander Gen. Joseph Votel; and Lt. Gen. Stephen Townsend, commander of the Combined Joint Task Force-Operation Inherent Resolve, are weighing new options with Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Carlisle said.
The reasons to do so are mounting, he added.
"It's a dense surface-to-air threat in portions of Syria," Carlisle said. Aircraft must be ready at all times to act, he said, because "the [surface-to-air missile] systems the Russians and Syrians have over there are active systems."
He clarified that while the SAM systems are operative, they're not necessarily painting U.S. aircraft with target tracking radars "to any great extent that I know of."
Mattis, during his trip last week to Europe to reassure NATO allies on emerging Russian threats, assured them that Russia's actions within Syria and in Ukraine and the Baltic states are not looked on favorably by the U.S.
Mattis said of further military cooperation, "Russia is going to have to prove itself first."
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“General of the Army Valery Gerasimov and General Joseph Dunford exchanged their views on condition of the Russia-America relationship, assessments of situations in the field of international security in Europe, Middle East, North Africa and other key regions of the world,” the Russian Defense Ministry statement added.
Despite Thursday’s talks, Defense Secretary James Mattis has ruled out military cooperation with Russia.
“We do not or are not in a position right now to collaborate on a military level,” Mattis said Thursday morning in Brussels. “But our political leaders will engage and try to find common ground or a way forward where Russia, living up to its commitments, will return to a partnership of sorts here with NATO.”
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Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the US Department of Defense Joseph Dunford and Chief of General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, General of the Army Valery Gerasimov have today [2.16.17] met in Baku.
The military leaders discussed a variety of issues including the current state of U.S.-Russian military relations and the importance of consistent and clear military-to-military communication to prevent miscalculation and potential crises.
By Jim Garamone, DoD News, Defense Media Activity / Published Feb. 16, 2017
Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met with his Russian counterpart, Army Gen. Valery Gerasimov, here today.
Dunford and Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces and the first deputy defense minister, discussed the current state of the military relationship between the United States and Russia.
This was the first face-to-face meeting between the two men. The two have previously spoken via telephone. “There’s a certain advantage to seeing someone face-to-face,” said Marine Corps Lt. Gen. Frank McKenzie, the Joint Staff’s director of strategic plans and policy. “While we’ve never had trouble getting him on the phone if we needed to talk, … there’s a certain advantage to sitting down and looking at someone across the table.”
This is the first meeting at this level since January 2014, when Gerasimov met with then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey in Brussels.
Since that meeting, Russia illegally annexed Crimea, intervened in eastern Ukraine, and sent troops, planes and ships to Syria propping up the regime of Bashir Assad. Russian ships and aircraft have acted in a provocative and dangerous manner in the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea. Russia’s actions have drawn worldwide condemnation.
Keeping Lines of Communication Open
The meeting between the two military leaders is not the beginning of an effort to return the relationship to the pre-Crimea status, McKenzie said. Rather, the meeting is a chance to ensure the lines of communication between the two militaries remain open.
The two chiefs of defense did not discuss policy or political issues, the general said. The Dunford-Gerasimov meeting was held to establish the link between the men “so they see each other and have an opportunity to size each other up. It’s very hard to do that over a telephone,” McKenzie said.
The chairman conveyed that the United States values the military-to-military link -- professionals talking to professionals -- regardless of the ups and downs of the U.S.-Russia relationship.
“Even at the height of the Cold War, we had a capability to talk to the Russians,” McKenzie said. “It doesn’t reflect we agree with everything or even anything that they are doing; that’s not the purpose of this discussion. The purpose is to establish and reinforce procedures for us to talk in case we have an incident where we need to exchange information rapidly.”
The meeting has been in the works for months, officials said. “The importance of this is the military-to-military communications channel between the [chiefs of defense] is a useful thing to have,” McKenzie said. “We see that as useful, regardless of the state of our relationship with Russia. It is always useful to talk mil-to-mil. It avoids miscalculation; it promotes transparency when we have forces operating in close proximity to each other, as we do in Syria.”
The meeting does not portend increased cooperation between the United States and Russia in Syria or anywhere else, the general said.
Gerasimov has held his position since November 2012. Some credit the general as being the father of Russia’s hybrid war doctrine. The doctrine looks for combinations of military, diplomatic, cyber, economic, information and cultural powers to wage “political warfare” to gain strategic goals. The strategy lives in the grey area between peace and war, stopping short of actual conflict.
(Follow Jim Garamone on Twitter: @GaramoneDoDNews)