Russian submarines are dangerous, says U.S. general

Joseph Trevithich writing for The Drive:

A senior U.S. military officer has again sounded the alarm about the threat that advanced, very-quiet, cruise-missile-armed Russian submarines, as well as Chinese ones, increasingly present to the United States. At a hearing on Capitol Hill yesterday, U.S. Air Force General Glen VanHerck, who is head of U.S. Northern Command and the U.S.-Canadian North American Aerospace Defense Command, told lawmakers that Russia’s growing fleet of nuclear-powered Yasen class guided-missile submarines, in particular, are nearly on par with U.S. Navy types in terms of quietness and will present a persistent threat to the American homeland unlike any before within five years. He added that, at its current pace of modernization, the Chinese Navy would not be behind for long in terms of similar capabilities.

In other news: Hot coffee is hot, and water is wet.

These recurring warnings from high-ranking US officers seem hyperbole. They mostly underline a fiction that American invulnerability is supposed to be the normal state of affairs. Russian submarines are really good, but this was also the case during the Cold War.