With war on Europe’s doorstep, it is imperative that the right capabilities are quickly delivered to fighting formations by a fully activated defense industrial base, said Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, commanding general of U.S. European Command and Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

In a keynote speech July 17 at the inaugural LANDEURO Symposium hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army in Wiesbaden, Germany, Grynkewich said NATO is at a decisive period in its 76-year history, challenged by the war in Ukraine, Russia’s enduring threat and China’s increasingly bold global incursion.

Grynkewich emphasized the need for a fully activated, seamless defense industrial base on “both sides of the Atlantic” that can deliver capability and capacity for the alliance.

“I see myself as a conscience of the alliance in this way, and we'll be watching very closely from my headquarters to see how our allies and partners are spending, how can we advise them on where their investments need to be,” said Grynkewich, who took command on July 4.

“War persists on our doorstep in Ukraine, and while we seek a peaceful resolution, even if that resolution comes, the Russian capabilities that are there will reconstitute, and just by their very existence, will be something that we'll have to think of from a military perspective,” he said.

He pointed out that in addition to Russia, Europe is vulnerable to spikes of violence in the Middle East and China’s “systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security.”

“Who would've thought that we'd see North Koreans fighting in Kursk? It's unfathomable, and yet it's happened,” he said. “Each of these threats that are out there cannot be viewed, in my estimation, as discrete challenges. We've got to think about how all of them are aligning and the risk of simultaneity of conflict across the globe.”

For the first time since the 1960s, Grynkewich said, NATO has established a strategy for collective security in Europe and across the NATO area of responsibility. The plans that underpin the strategy are the foundation, not just for what the fight will look like for warfighting and exercising, but “they're also a template for our modernization efforts.”

The strategic security plan has prompted a “shopping list” that can guide industry toward “exactly what it is that we need for all the leaders that are out there,” he said.

“It's our job, I think, to hold industry accountable, to deliver quickly, and to hold ourselves accountable for giving industry the ability to deliver quickly through our acquisition processes, and we’ve got to do this fast,” Grynkewich said. “We need real capabilities, and we need them delivered as soon as possible. We can't afford to wait. Future pledges are no longer enough. We need things to start showing up in the armies and in the air forces and in the navies of the alliance as soon as they can to do this.”

There's plenty of work to go around, he said, adding that it is “the leaders in this room” who will make things happen and hold industry accountable for getting the needed capabilities, the new and emerging technologies or the legacy technologies that are still relevant on the battlefield.

“So, I challenge each of the chiefs of defense, land force managers and every leader in here to hold themselves to account for that,” Grynkewich said. “There's no time to waste.”