Advances in reconnaissance and surveillance capabilities and long-range precision fires create a deadlier and more lethal battlefield that the Army must prepare for, a panel of experts said earlier this year at the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Honolulu.

“We have to operate in less safe spaces,” not just in the Indo-Pacific but globally, said Maj. Gen. Brian Gibson, commanding general of the 94th Army Air and Missile Defense Command.

The so-called no man’s land between the trenches of World War I has now grown exponentially, Gibson said. “This is the decisive component of warfare,” he said. “Many folks have rightfully said that if you can be detected, the timelines for you to survive are less and less than they ever have been. This forms a key challenge for us.”

The Army must figure out how to move forces across no-go areas and have enough forces to be decisive, Gibson said. “How do we operate in these increasingly denied environments?” he said. “Our Army capabilities like air defense, logistics, sustainment, command and control, protection, these are all things we can do and must do as an Army to protect the joint force, and we must do them forward.”

He added, “The environment is only becoming more and more congested, let alone more and more contested.”

Another critical area of concern is space, said Maj. Gen. Michael Morrissey, director of strategy, plans and policy at U.S. Space Command, another panelist for the discussion focused on reconnaissance-strike complexes and their effect on land warfare.

“Space is essential to our way of life, but it’s critical to our way of war,” Morrissey said, for everything from how the U.S. military executes logistics and how it distributes combat power.

“Our adversaries, namely China and Russia, are building exponential capabilities to counter our space dominance, to counter our way of warfighting,” Morrissey said.

For its part, Space Command is partnering with 33 countries around the world. “You cannot fight alone, unless you’re foolish,” Morrissey said.