On Tuesday, August 3, the United States began its largest naval exercise, Large Scale Exercise 2021, in 40 years.

As noted on the official website of the US Navy, the maneuvers will last until August 16.

A total of 36 ships will take part in them, including aircraft carriers and submarines.

The exercise will involve units located in 17 time zones, including six Component Commands of the Navy and Marine Corps, five numbered US fleets, and three Marine Expeditionary Corps.

“Large Scale Exercise 2021 (LSE 2021) will demonstrate the inherent flexibility of Distributed Marine Operations (DMO), Forward Base Expeditionary Operations (EABO), and Coastal Contested Environment Operations (LOCE), and will make our rivals understand that the US Armed Forces are retaining a high level of combat readiness precisely because of, and not in spite of, its global operational commitments, ”the website of the US military department notes.

In turn, the Military.com portal informs that about 25 thousand military personnel will take part in the exercises.

It is also reported that this is the first naval exercise of this scale with the participation of the United States since the NATO Ocean Venture maneuvers, which took place in 1981.

  • USS Mount Whitney, which will take part in the Large Scale Exercise 2021

  • Reuters

  • © Vasily Fedosenko

At the same time, the official newspaper of the US Department of Defense, Stars and Stripes, indicates that these exercises should become a signal to the Russian Federation and China that the United States is capable of repelling aggression on several fronts at the same time.

The publication also quotes a professor at the US Naval College in Newport, Rhode Island, James Holmes, who said that such a large-scale exercise could serve as a warning to opponents that the United States is capable of simultaneously responding to challenges in the Black Sea, the eastern Mediterranean. seas, as well as in the South China and East China Seas, thwarting attempts to disperse the American armed forces.

Holmes said the exercise is also intended to show that the US Navy and Marines are capable of preventing adversaries from establishing control over the seas, which, in his opinion, is especially important in the West Pacific, where Washington seeks to prevent Beijing from "occupying Taiwan or seizing controlled Japan of the Senkaku Islands ".

In addition, Stars and Stripes draws attention to the fact that the exercise is taking place against the backdrop of the US renewal of its doctrine to protect communications and logistics systems.

During last year's exercises, the newspaper writes, the Pentagon identified serious vulnerabilities in this area in the US Navy.

“Without exaggerating the scale of the disaster, we can say that there was a complete failure,” General John Hayten said about those exercises, speaking at the Institute for Advanced Technologies in Washington.

"The intensity of operational and combat training is growing"

It is worth noting that this is not the first exercise with the participation of the United States this year, which the West described as the largest since the Cold War.

Prior to this, a similar assessment was awarded to NATO maneuvers Defender Europe 2021. In the British army, they were called the largest in 25 years.

These exercises lasted from March to June 2021.

More than 28 thousand military personnel from 26 countries, including the United States, took part in them.

Military operations were conducted in more than 30 training zones located in 12 countries.

At the same time, Defender Europe 2021 was organizationally associated with a number of smaller-scale NATO maneuvers.

These include Swift Response, Immediate Response, Saber Guardian, Command Post Exercise, African Lion, and Steadfast Defender.

  • Kosovar military exercises Defender Europe 21

  • AFP

  • © Armend NIMANI

In connection with the conduct of these exercises, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu drew attention to the increased NATO activity near the southern borders of Russia.

According to him, the intelligence activities of the North Atlantic Alliance are intensifying in the region, the intensity and scale of operational training activities are increasing.

He also noted that the actions of the United States and NATO in the European region contribute to the growth of tensions in Europe.

“The military infrastructure is being modernized, the intensity of operational and combat training is growing, and the American“ Four to Thirty ”concept is being implemented.

Nationalist sentiments are heating up in Ukraine, which provokes an armed conflict in the Donbass, including in the areas bordering on Russia, ”said the head of the Russian Defense Ministry.

The "Four to Thirty" program, according to the Russian defense department, envisages the creation of 30 mechanized battalions, 30 air squadrons in NATO by 2022 and the presence of 30 warships ready for use within 30 days.

The program will complement the so-called lead detachment - the rapid reaction force and the NATO High Readiness Joint Task Force, which numbers more than 30,000 people.

This group must be able to urgently deploy and conduct hostilities within 48 hours of receiving the order.

In addition to such major exercises, the United States and NATO are conducting many smaller-scale maneuvers, including on the territory of the former Soviet republics bordering the Russian Federation.

So, in June, the Sea Breeze 2021 naval maneuvers started in the Black Sea with the participation of the United States and Ukraine.

They involved 32 warships, 40 aircraft and 5 thousand military personnel from 17 NATO member countries, as well as alliance partners.

And at the end of July, the international multinational military exercises Agile Spirit began in Georgia with the participation of the member states of the North Atlantic Alliance and their partners.

According to the Ministry of Defense of the republic, in total, more than 2.5 thousand military men from 15 countries were involved in the maneuvers.

At the same time, the US and EU actively criticized the Russian military maneuvers that took place in Russia in April.

Checks and trainings then took place in all military districts, in the Northern Fleet and in the regions of the Kuril Islands, the Far North and Kamchatka.

Despite the fact that the exercises were conducted exclusively on the territory of the Russian Federation and the Russian Ministry of Defense had warned about them in advance, the Western countries, led by the United States, then accused Moscow of "aggressive" actions.

A similar rhetoric can be observed in the Western media and on the eve of the Russian-Belarusian exercises "West-2021", which will be held from 10 to 16 September at the training grounds of Belarus and Russia. 

"Propaganda and double standards"

Analysts say the Large Scale Exercise 2021 and other similar maneuvers are directed against countries that are trying to pursue policies independent of Washington in the international arena. 

“Specific objects are indicated very clearly - these are Russia and China.

But it is also directed against other countries - there should be no illusions here.

This includes Iran, North Korea and other states that are opposed to the establishment of a new world order led by the United States, ”Alexei Podberezkin, director of the MGIMO Center for Military-Political Research, said in an interview with RT.

In turn, retired Major General Pavel Zolotarev, member of the Council on Foreign and Defense Policy, recalled that the Russian Federation and the PRC are indicated as the main opponents of the United States in various American doctrinal documents.

In particular, in the interim strategic guidance on the national security of the United States, Moscow and Beijing are called threats to Washington.

“These exercises are being carried out in several regions at the same time, as a result of which the zones associated with Russia and China are covered.

This is due, among other things, to the fact that in all American doctrinal documents China and Russia are indicated as the main possible source of threat, "the analyst said in an interview with RT.

  • U.S. military takes part in Sea Breeze 2021 exercise

  • Reuters

  • © Sergey Smolentsev

As noted by Alexey Podberezkin, in terms of the aggregate of military capacities and defense budgets, the United States and NATO countries today dominate the world.

This situation developed after the collapse of the USSR.

According to him, the West is striving to maintain this position, therefore, the words of the American military about the response to the aggression from the Russian Federation and the PRC are only a pretext for intensifying military activity.

“This is not a response to some imaginary aggression, but the struggle of the United States against Russia, China and other countries that do not want to obey the norms and rules that are now being formed by Washington,” stressed Alexey Podberezkin.

The expert called the criticism of the Russian exercises from the West as a manifestation of double standards.

“This is propaganda and double standards that have always existed.

The Americans are creating a kind of virtual reality, under which they are trying to fit real facts.

The United States is trying to impose this picture of the world on other countries as well, ”the analyst said.

In turn, Pavel Zolotarev noted that the increase in US and NATO military activity, including near the borders of the Russian Federation, increases the risk of dangerous incidents.

“In the course of such exercises, there is always a danger of incidents, because the United States is not conducting them on its territory. In the event that the Americans approach Russian military facilities, our aircraft will take to the air, and the ships of the Russian Navy will also react accordingly. All this creates a dangerous situation, ”the analyst concluded.