Senior European military commanders are urging governments to fundamentally reshape their armed forces for a new era of warfare, warning that Russia continues to pose a long-term security challenge while recent conflicts have exposed the need for faster modernization and greater military readiness.
Speaking at a defense conference in London last week hosted by the Royal United Services Institute, NATO Deputy Supreme Allied Commander Europe Air Chief Marshal Sir Johnny Stringer said European allies must become less reliant on expensive, highly sophisticated weapons systems that require years to develop and instead invest more heavily in mass-produced, lower-cost capabilities such as drones and interceptor systems.
Stringer said future military operations would require stronger long-range precision strike capabilities, improved electromagnetic warfare and significantly enhanced air defenses capable of countering threats from weapons with ranges extending thousands of kilometers.
“The threat we face is at 360 degrees,” Stringer told military leaders and defense industry representatives. “We need to be looking much further north now in terms of the ranges where we’re needing to deal with Russian long-range aviation and with a potent surface and subsurface threat, most obviously from the Northern Fleet.”
His remarks reflect growing concern among European defense officials that Russia could eventually rebuild enough military capacity to threaten NATO territory within the coming years.
The debate over Europe’s military preparedness has intensified as U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration continues pressing European governments to assume greater responsibility for their own defense. Washington has repeatedly criticized NATO allies for underinvesting in their armed forces while relying heavily on U.S. military protection.
The United States announced plans in May to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany, while Trump has also threatened to reconsider Washington’s commitment to NATO. Alliance leaders are expected to address defense spending and burden-sharing at the upcoming NATO summit in Ankara in July.
Military commanders said lessons from Russia’s war in Ukraine and ongoing conflict in the Middle East demonstrate that conventional warfare is evolving rapidly, requiring significant changes in doctrine, procurement and battlefield operations.
German Army commander Lt. Gen. Christian Freuding said modern land warfare has changed fundamentally and argued that simply increasing defense budgets would not be sufficient.
“We must fundamentally adapt how we will fight,” Freuding said.
He said Germany’s military has shifted toward purchasing equipment that can be delivered immediately to close urgent capability gaps instead of waiting years for more advanced systems still under development.
“We are focusing on interim solutions that are available now rather than what might be possible in five years’ time but won’t be delivered for another 10 years,” Freuding said.
Military leaders also highlighted the growing influence of artificial intelligence on battlefield decision-making, arguing that technological advances are dramatically accelerating military planning and operational tempo.
British Army Chief of the General Staff Gen. Sir Roly Walker said AI has significantly reduced the time required to analyze battlefield information and identify targets.
“A corps planning cycle that once took 72 hours can now take one,” Walker said. “A corps that once prosecuted 24 targets a day can now do 10 times that.”
The commanders argued that adapting to these technological and strategic shifts will be essential if European militaries are to remain capable of deterring future threats while responding effectively to increasingly complex security challenges.
