NEWSWATCH: “Russia could overrun Baltics in 3 days. NATO forces would face severe casualties.” – Washington Times
The Washington Times covers a recent RAND report about the military dynamic that could exist in the Baltics in the event of a hypothetical Russian attack.
On the same day the Secretary of Defense, Ash Carter, announced new resources being sought to strengthen Eastern European defenses from any possible Russian aggression, a report from the RAND corporation was released and states that with current force structure, Russia could overrun NATO defenses in the Baltics and be in Riga or Tallinn in under three days. NATO forces would face severe casualties even with available U.S. airpower being employed and could not stop the Russian advance, unless nuclear weapons were used.
The report’s findings are as follows, ‘As Presently Postured, NATO Cannot Successfully Defend the Territory of its Most Exposed Members. Across multiple games using a wide range of expert participants in and out of uniform playing both sides, the longest it has taken Russian forces to reach the outskirts of the Estonian and/or Latvian capitals of Tallinn and Riga, respectively, is 60 hours. Such a rapid defeat would leave NATO with a limited number of options, all bad.’