Army in Europe Pushes Transformation Efforts

Army in Europe Pushes Transformation Efforts

Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, speaks at AUSA Coffee event
Photo by: AUSA/Luc Dunn

The Army is transforming in Europe, training with allies and working with industry to advance and scale next-generation capabilities, said Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa.

In remarks June 25 at a Coffee Series event hosted by the Association of the U.S. Army, Donahue said the U.S. military “will always lead in Europe, in particular the Army,” but as a global Army, formations must be ready to deploy anywhere in the world.

Donahue, who has led U.S. Army Europe and Africa since December, noted that warfare is marked by rapidly advancing technology such as drones, robotics and electronic warfare, but the strongest deterrent will always be the soldiers on the ground.

“Nobody can replace Roman legions. If you want to win, you have to put people on the ground—that will not change,” Donahue said. “You have to have brigade combat teams, and they have to be incredibly well trained.”

Describing Ukraine as “the best laboratory,” Donahue pointed out that a lot is being learned from the conflict there. More importantly, he said, are the investments being made by European countries in building ranges where U.S. troops can train with their allies to build interoperability and strengthen their deterrence posture.

“They’ve all lined up, and they’re putting millions of dollars into this,” Donahue said, describing ranges to train with unmanned aerial systems and electronic warfare. In Latvia and Romania, he said, planned brigade-sized live-fire ranges will be like the Baltics equivalent of the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California.

“Our NATO allies are building infrastructure for us to train because they know if we can’t train, there is going to be an issue with our rotational forces,” Donahue said, adding that U.S. Army Europe and Africa “is the test bed for the Army Transformation Initiative for a number of things.”

He pointed to ongoing testing with counter-unmanned aerial systems technology, known as Project Flytrap, as an example of how soldiers are learning to adapt on the move with a capability that is usually employed from a static location.

“We know what to do from a static perspective. Well, in the United States Army, we’re an offensive force, so how do you take your UAS capability with you while you’re moving, while you’re on the attack?” he said.

He pointed also to Next Generation Command and Control, known as NGC2, as an evolving capability that is tested “every day.”

Donahue also called for a “collective defense industrial base that can match this … unholy alliance that’s out there between China, Russia, North Korea and Iran.” The U.S. military must have interoperability with all NATO nations as well as South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to achieve a versatile defense industrial base.

“We’re pushing this very hard, at LANDEURO you’ll hear this as well,” Donahue said referring to AUSA’s two-day forum next month in Wiesbaden, Germany, on land power in Europe. “We need to co-produce, because any munition that you can shoot in Finland, Poland, you know, pick your spot, you also have to be able to use in Asia, you have to be able to use it in [the Middle East].”

For more information or to register for LANDEURO, click here.