WASHINGTON – Today,U.S. Senator Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) participated in a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing focused on the posture of United States European Command (EUCOM) and United States Africa Command (AFRICOM). During the hearing, Senator Tuberville spoke with General Michael E. Langley, Commander of AFRICOM, about shortfalls in the region and the rise of terrorism in Africa. Additionally, Senator Tuberville spoke with General Christopher G. Cavoli, Commander of EUCOM, about the current state of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Read Senator Tuberville’s remarks below and watch on YouTube and Rumble.
AFRICOM
TUBERVILLE: “Good morning. Thank you, gentlemen, for your service and good luck after retirement, but you’re not done yet.
General Langley, AFRICOM has historically suffered from shortfalls and manpower and ISR and security and all those things. [It] sounds like, from your testimony, that Africa is in trouble – 40% rise in terrorism. What’s your most pressing need, that you can tell us, for what we can help you with?”
GEN. LANGLEY: “Senator, thanks for that question. My number one operational priority is protection of the force. So, as I stipulated in my opening statement, I focused on matching capabilities to the threat. We match capabilities to the threat—first calls for Integrated Air and Missile Defense (IAMD), and it calls for ISR.
And a number of our platforms would add to the capacity and capability of protecting the force. In close session, I would be able to elaborate with more specificity, but all commanders always ask for those aforementioned-type platforms.”
TUBERVILLE: “Yeah, thank you.”
EUCOM
TUBERVILLE: “General Cavoli, how much closer today is Ukraine from this time last year, winning this war against Russia?”
GEN. CAVOLI: “They’re in a much better position not to lose it, Senator Tuberville. They have shored up their defenses. They’ve assumed very strong defenses, and they’ve improved their force generation capability. So, they’re in a much better position than they were. Depending on what the objective is, of course, which has always been the question in this chamber as well as others, it would be hard for them to accomplish some things, but they’re doing a good job of what they’re trying to do now, which is hold their line.”
Senator Tommy Tuberville represents Alabama in the United States Senate and is a member of the Senate Armed Services, Agriculture, Veterans’ Affairs, HELP and Aging Committees.
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