In an increasingly challenging security environment, land forces remain a critical part of the U.S. military’s ability to deter and fight, if needed, the top Army leader in Europe said.

“If you look at everything that is happening throughout the world, the land domain is not becoming less important. Rather, it’s becoming more important,” Gen. Christopher Donahue, commanding general of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said July 16 as he opened the Association of the U.S. Army’s inaugural LANDEURO Symposium in Wiesbaden, Germany.

For the U.S. and its allies and partners in Europe, interoperability, offensive capability and the ability to leverage data are crucial, Donahue said. Another key factor is industry, Donahue said.

Alan Meltzer, charge d`affaires for the U.S. Mission to Germany, agreed. “LANDEURO highlights how interconnected our defense sectors are and must remain,” he said to the audience as he introduced Donahue. As an example, “German defense companies are indispensable partners with their American counterparts in advancing our national security objectives,” he said.

As the U.S. and its partners continue working together, they have a message for industry, Donahue said. “With industry, we can tell you exactly what we need,” he said. “Very specifically, what we would like you to start to look at, is anything that we develop, it has to be interoperable.”

Donahue cited data as an example. “We need industry to mitigate the risk that every nation sees in data,” he said. “We talk about the cloud, you as industry have to come in and talk about how we can share data without a nation being concerned about where that data is going to be.”

Modular, optionally manned systems also are needed, he said. “Everyone loves to talk about long-range fires and air defense,” Donahue said. “Specifically, what we want to develop is a common launcher that is both defensive- and offensive-capable. We need a common fire control system so that any nation can use that fire control system.”

Cost also is a factor, Donahue said. “As a general rule, whatever you’re shooting at, whatever weapon system or munition you shoot at another adversary’s capability, it should be cheaper than what you’re shooting down.”

At a press conference following his remarks, Donahue reiterated the need to develop interoperable, cost-effective capabilities. “We have to develop that capability as fast as humanly possible,” he said. “We would like the defense industrial base of all 32 [NATO] nations plus South Korea, Japan, Australia and New Zealand to get broader and have more capability.”

This defense industrial base must be diversified, he said. As an example, “you don’t want to build a bunch of drones right now,” Donahue said, as they’ll quickly be outdated. Instead, “how do you build the right components … so you can scale very quickly?” he said.

The U.S. and its partners must move more quickly to keep up with quickly evolving technology, Donahue said. Together, “we have to solve that, especially in this alliance,” he said.

“Whatever war you’re watching play out, you’ll never fight that,” Donahue said. “Never in history have we fought the last war.