The United States intends to expand its Navy’s presence in the Arctic as well as to ensure its military has an upper hand in terms of space, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on Tuesday.
“In order to achieve leadership in space, the United Space has created a new kind of armed forces — space troops. Since August, the second operational fleet of the US Navy is being created. Its main task will be to expand US military presence in the Arctic,” Shoigu said at the end-of-year session of the Russian Defense Ministry’s board.
The defence minister’s comments come after Russia’s President Vladimir Putin said earlier in the day that the Russian Armed Forces in its development should focus on unmanned systems and digital technologies. On December 11, the Missile Defence Agency (MDA) said that the United States military has intercepted an intermediate-range ballistic missile during a test conducted in Hawaii. The test marked the second consecutive successful intercept for the SM-3 Block IIA missile, following a previous test in October, US media reported.