From long-range fires to sustainment, the Army has key roles to play in deterring America’s adversaries in the Indo-Pacific as part of the joint force, the commander of U.S. Indo-Pacific Command said.

“The region is named after oceans, but human beings live on land,” Navy Adm. Samuel Paparo said. “It’s absolutely essential that all of the joint forces are intertwined in our joint functions.”

The U.S. military’s highest duty is deterrence, Paparo said May 13 in a keynote address at the beginning of the Association of the U.S. Army’s LANPAC Symposium and Exposition in Honolulu.

“Deterrence is that combination of capability and will, and your would-be adversary’s knowledge of that demonstrates to them that the potential cost of aggression far outweighs the benefit,” he said.

The U.S. and its allies and partners are facing “profoundly consequential moments” in the region and around the world, Paparo said.

“China is on a dangerous course,” he said, conducting aggressive maneuvers around Taiwan and an increasing number of joint rehearsals and exercises. Last year, on a single day, the People’s Liberation Army deployed 150 warships, 43 brigades conducting combined arms breaching operations and more, he said. Meanwhile, North Korea tested its largest ICBM, potentially capable of reaching anywhere in the continental U.S., he said.

“More concerning is the fact that China, Russia, North Korea, among others, have formed a transactional symbiosis that threatens regional stability,” Paparo said.

“This is all very concerning, and they demand a coordinated, joint and combined response, which is why we fight as an integrated, joint and combined force with allies and partners,” he said.

Events such as LANPAC, with delegations from 33 countries and at least 14 heads of Army in attendance, reinforce the importance of allies and partners, Paparo said. “This is … the asymmetric advantage that we have against our would-be adversaries, this network of friendships and partnerships,” he said.

When asked how the Army contributes to Indo-Pacific Command’s mission, Paparo said he often talks about fires, integrated air and missile defense, sustainment and “all of the other joint functions,” including intelligence, information, command and control, maneuver and protection.

Using fires as an example, Paparo said no service has a monopoly on fires. “Fast, accurate, lethal fires across the domain is fundamental,” he said. The Army’s Precision Strike Missile and long-range hypersonic weapon are game changers, he said.

“Every service is indispensable to success and to deterrence,” he said. “Deterrence must always be backed up with the real capability to fight and win.”

Paparo, who has commanded Indo-Pacific Command since May 2024, said that while the U.S. military has made progress in transforming for the next fight, it must do more, especially with its allies and partners. “Increasingly, threats are global, they are interconnected,” he said. “Events in one continent have great bearing on others.”

“We all must do more—more, faster, better, smarter, more enable by AI tools—and we need to do it now,” Paparo said.