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Russian Military Buildup Concerns NATO

(16 Feb 2017) VOICE-OVER SCRIPT: IT'S EARLY MORNING AT A NATO AIRBASE IN WEST GERMANY AND THE CREW OF THE ALLIANCE'S AWACS FORCE ARE PREPARING FOR THE DAY'S MISSION: NEARLY 11 HOURS IN THE AIR, CONTROLLING FIGHT EXERCISES, AND PROVIDING SURVEILLANCE IN THE AIRSPACE ALONG NATO'S BORDERS WITH RUSSIA. THESE SQUADRONS REGULARLY PATROL NEAR THE SUWALKI GAP SEPARATING KALININGRAD AND BELARUS, CONTRIBUTING TO NATO'S REASSURANCE MEASURES TO BALTIC AND EASTERN EUROPEAN COUNTRIES, WHILST MONITORING RUSSIAN ACTIVITY BELOW. THE RECENT DEPLOYMENT OF ADVANCED WEAPONRY IN THE RUSSIAN EXCLAVE OF KALININGRAD HAS RAISED CONCERNS OVER MOSCOW'S ABILITY TO STRIKE MAJOR EUROPEAN CAPITALS AND DOMINATE AIRSPACE AROUND THE BALTIC REGION IN CASE OF CONFLICT. SOUNDBITE (English) Major Johannes Glowka, NATO AWACS: "In the north, that is Kaliningrad. Kaliningrad Oblast. From various sources we know that the Russian military deployed new equipment to Kaliningrad. On the military side, the effective range of the Russian system could be now much much bigger than in the past. In the past we could see that Russian - not going into too much details - that the Russian military could cover one third of Poland, and fifty percent of the Baltics from Kaliningrad. With the new system, that might change massively." IN NOVEMBER, RUSSIA SAID IT HAD DEPLOYED IT'S BASTION COASTAL DEFENSE MISSILE SYSTEM WITH A RANGE OF UP TO 280 MILES - THESE CAN BE USED AGAINST SHIPS AS WELL AS GROUND TARGETS. ANOTHER MISSILE SYSTEM DEPLOYED THERE IS THE ISKANDER, A TRUCK-MOUNTED WEAPON THAT CAN REACH TARGETS UP TO 310 MILES AWAY. MEANWHILE, S-400 AIR DEFENSE MISSILES CAN TRACK AND TARGET AIRCRAFT OR MISSILES UP TO 250 MILES AWAY. TAKEN TOGETHER, THESE PROVIDE RUSSIA WITH THE MULTI-LAYERED ABILITY TO RESTRICT ACCESS TO NATO AIRCRAFT AND SHIPS TO MOST OF THE BALTIC REGION, AND POTENTIALLY TARGET CITIES SUCH AS COPENHAGEN OR BERLIN. THE DEPUTY COMMANDER OF NATO'S AWACS FORCE, STRESSES THAT RUSSIA IS WELL WITHIN IT'S RIGHTS TO MILITARIZE THIS TERRITORY BUT WARNS OF THE INCREASED THREAT TO NATO AIRCRAFT AND SHIPS. SOUNDBITE (English) Air Commodore Ian Teakle, Deputy Commander of the NATO AWACS force: "Russia has its every right to militarize - and we are seeing that - but what we have seen from Russia is a willingness to use that military force. We saw that in Crimea, we saw it in the Ukraine, and now we're also seeing just a build-up in Kaliningrad. This is a manifestation of an anti-access area denial that we're actually seeing for real." YET WHILE NATO IS CONCERNED BY THE RUSSIAN MILITARY BUILD-UP IN KALININGRAD, THEY DO INSIST THERE IS NO IMMINENT SIGN OF REAL THREATS, AND THAT DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS WITH THEIR ALLIES WILL CONTINUE AS NORMAL. DAVID KEYTON, FOR THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, IN GEILENKIRCHEN, GERMANY STORYLINE The recent deployment of advanced weaponry in the Russian exclave Kaliningrad raises concerns over Moscow's ability to strike major Europeans capitals and enhance it's ability to dominate airspace around the Baltic region in case of conflict. NATO's AWACS squadrons regularly patrol airspace near the Suwalki Gap separating Kaliningrad and Belarus contributing to reassurance measures to Baltic and Eastern European countries but also monitoring Russian activity below. Together, these give Russian forces the multi-layered ability to restrict access to NATO aircraft and ships to most of the Baltic region, and potentially the ability to target cities such as Copenhagen or Berlin. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...