Countering Russia in Europe means faster AI-assisted targeting, long-range strike weapons and a greater NATO role in conventional forces.
Brig. Gen. Steven P. Carpenter, commanding general of Multi-Domain Command Europe, joins the Threat Status podcast at AUSA to discuss how NATO would fight Russia and what Europe must do to build up its forces.
[WOLFGANG] Listeners need to know what multi-domain command is and what it does. So for those who don’t know, can you give us kind of a brief explanation of what it is and what your responsibilities are?
[CARPENTER] Sure. Multi-domain command Europe integrates and synchronizes all domain fires on behalf of the land component. And when I say all domain, I’m talking that’s not just land, that’s air, that is maritime, that is space, and that is cyberspace. We like to say that we find, fix, and finish for the land component, find, fix, and finish for the theater, or as we like to call it, we do multi-domain convergence and depth. And by convergence, I mean their episodic application of all domain mass on behalf of the land component.
[WOLFGANG] Okay, we’re going to do a lot more detail about this as we go along, General. But look, there’s, as you well know, been a surge of Russian hybrid warfare operations inside European nations, particularly those that support Ukraine. Now, NATO’s top commander just made global headlines about 48 hours before we started to record this, saying that the alliance, NATO, would win a war against Russia if we end up in a scenario like that. I mean, what do you make of that comment? Do you agree with that assessment? Where do you come down on that question right now?
[CARPENTER] I do agree with that assessment. And I was able to see General Grinkovich actually brief his theory of victory to the chiefs of defense and the ministers of defense in Mons, Belgium, about a month ago. One of the things that we know as the land component is we know that in order to outpace any enemy — in this case, you’re talking about the Russians —in order to rapidly change geometries to our advantage, to create dilemmas for any enemy, to create endurance for our close fight formations like our cores, to create an experience for the enemy that absolutely overwhelms them, we need to do several things. First, as you mentioned, we need to be able to intercept defeat up to 1,200 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and one-way attack drones every 24-hour period, while at the same time developing, maintaining custody, and processing up to 1,500 targets all in a 24-hour period, while also combining with the Joint Force. The Army is the foundation of the Joint Force. Combining with the Joint Force to counter enemy mass momentum and defeat multiple anti-access aerial denial bubbles that exist inside of Europe.
[WOLFGANG] So what is the threat posed by adversaries? Of course, we’re specifically talking about Russia in this instance. I mean, the world has been watching the Russia-Ukraine war, and especially early on, I think folks were surprised by how ineffective Russia seemed at certain aspects of waging its war against Ukraine. Is the threat level higher now, would you say, than it was prior to the Ukraine war, the same or less? What has that war changed about what you do?
[CARPENTER] I think it’s changed NATO in terms of there’s a greater intensity to growing conventional mass in Europe. The United States needs to do what only the United States can do and then have Europe build conventional mass. You hear a lot about that in the newspapers, in the press. And for us, we prepare for Ukraine’s worst day because we know that we need to be a net contributor to the joint force as the land component, as the United States Army, but also as the land component for NATO. And we do that by contributing to the anti-access aerial denial fight, not just leaving that on the air component to do, but also contributing to the air component and the maritime component to counter mass and momentum. And the way you counter mass and momentum in Europe is mass and momentum. And we do that by first delaying, then disrupting, now we’re affecting their operations, their maneuver, and then destroying second and third echelon forces. For the land component, our goal is to take away all options from the enemy’s first echelon forces to give the cores the best opportunity to win in their core deeps and their core close fights.
[WOLFGANG] You said you were prepared for Ukraine’s worst day. What does that mean? Just a massive drone missile assault? What does Ukraine’s worst day mean?
[CARPENTER] Ukraine’s worst day is 1,200 ballistic missiles, cruise missiles, and one-way attack drones. That’s defense. So on an offensive standpoint, to be able to develop, maintain custody, and pass 1,500 targets a day on top of the anti-axis aerial denial, disintegration, and countermassive momentum. So that’s what we prepare for as the Army in Europe. That’s what we prepare for as land com, the land component across NATO.
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Watch the video for the full conversation.
Read more: ‘Ready to fight tonight’: NATO’s top general says the alliance would win a war with Russia
Hear the full episode of this podcast: Meet the U.S. Army command synchronizing firepower to deter Russia
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