Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Christopher Osburn | U.S. Air Force Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander...... read more read more
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WIESBADEN, Germany – Supreme Allied Commander, Europe and Commander, United States European Command Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, delivered the opening keynote address on the second day of the first-ever LANDEURO symposium, July 16-17.
The top NATO and U.S. commander in Europe opened by highlighting defining moments throughout NATO’s history from Germany’s accession to NATO seventy years ago, to where we are today, a decisive moment in time.
“If you look at the long arc of NATO history over the past 75-plus years, there’s a few decisive points in time that really mattered,” he said. “One was the end of the Cold War, when NATO had to find itself and bring stability to a continent. A second came after the attacks on September 11, when the Alliance invoked Article Five for the first and only time to defend the United States. And if you go even further back—seventy years ago—the German accession into NATO was an absolute seminal point in time.”
Grynkewich reminded the audience that war persists on our doorstep in Ukraine, and while we seek peaceful resolution, Russia will likely remain a threat, we must simultaneously counter threats on multiple fronts from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific.
On that point, Grynkewich said the Alliance is well positioned for such global challenges
“There’s still a lot to do but we are on the right path. One of the places we are on the right path is exercising,” he said referring to an image from Steadfast Deterrence, a NATO led exercise in 2025 with participation of 32 Allies, 90,000 troops over 50 ships, over 80 aircraft, and over 1,100 combat vehicles, an unprecedented exercise in maneuver warfare and in command/control.
“As we continue to learn and figure out how to leverage emerging technology to achieve strategic affects, the pace and cycle of innovation is increasing and we must keep up with it,” he continued, highlighting the historic commitment of allies contributing 5% of GDP during the recent NATO summit.
“There is nothing like combat operations to drive innovation,” he said, adding, “The challenge now isn’t the commitment, the challenge is taking that commitment and turning it into real capability and capacity on the battlefield.”
“No one is more energetic when it comes to delivering capabilities than the [NATO] Secretary General,” he added.
In closing, Grynkewich urged the leaders in the room to make the necessary innovations happen.
“I challenge each of the chiefs of defense, land force managers and every leader to hold themselves to account for that, especially in an era where we have global threats that are persisting. There’s absolutely no time to waste.”
| Date Taken: | 07.17.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 07.17.2025 06:59 |
| Story ID: | 543034 |
| Location: | DE |
| Web Views: | 98 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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