OREANDA-NEWS  To contain the naval forces of Russia and China, it is necessary to create new ships, including non-crew surface vessels, said the commander of the US surface forces, Vice Admiral rich brown.

"We also need medium-sized and large non-crew surface vessels. We need a combat-ready frigate and we need a large surface warship," said brown, speaking Tuesday at a Symposium of the Association of surface forces of the United States.

The Vice Admiral emphasized that the development and implementation of such ships is connected with the new "era of rivalry of the great powers".

"This time we have two revisionist and reviving Nations – Russia and China. Russia again directs its nuclear submarines in the area of GI-UK (between Greenland and the UK – ed.) and challenges us in the Eastern Mediterranean and the North Atlantic," said brown, whose words leads the US Navy website.

According to him, China also challenges the US in the area of Islands near its coast, where the Chinese Navy escorts "every American ship".

Among other threats, he called "regional rogue States"-North Korea and Iran, as well as "extremism", against which it is necessary to continue to fight.

In autumn 2018, one of the commands of the US Navy conducted the reception of proposals for the development of an average ship with a length of 12 to 50 meters with "increased range, high cruising speed and high reliability." The autonomy of the vessel was determined in 60-90 days, the speed-24-27 knots.

In addition, a number of requirements were set for the equipment and characteristics of the vessel, including NATO standards, but it was not specified what weapons could be placed on Board. It was noted that the contractor should be ready to develop a prototype within 1-1.5 years. Contracts for the construction of such vessels have not yet been reported.