U.S. Supreme Allied Commander Europe urges NATO to adopt Ukraine style battlefield innovations.

At the 2025 LANDEURO defense symposium held in Wiesbaden, Germany, on July 18, Supreme Allied Commander Europe, U.S. Air Force General Alexus G. Grynkewich, issued a powerful call to NATO member states to mirror the fast-paced and adaptive innovation strategies demonstrated by Ukrainian forces since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. Addressing a high-level audience of NATO military officials and defense industry leaders, General Grynkewich emphasized that Ukraine’s battlefield-driven innovation ranging from unmanned systems to additive manufacturing is reshaping how modern warfare must be approached in the digital age.
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U.S. Air Force General Alexus Grynkewich Supreme Allied Commander Europe, delivers keynotes at LANDEURO 2025 held at Rhein Main Congress Center in Wiesbaden, Germany, on July 17, 2025. (Picture source:  U.S. DoD)

The war in Ukraine has marked a dramatic evolution in modern military equipment, with an unprecedented surge in the battlefield use of low-cost drones, combat robots, and loitering munitions. Ukrainian forces, under constant threat and facing a numerically superior adversary, have leveraged off-the-shelf commercial drone technologies repurposed with explosive payloads and advanced optics to gain tactical advantages in both reconnaissance and precision strikes. Simultaneously, loitering munitions like the Switchblade and the domestically developed RAM II have proven decisive in disabling armor, command posts, and logistics lines with remarkable efficiency and speed. Combat robots, including remote-controlled ground vehicles and unmanned systems for demining and supply transport, have also begun to change the character of ground operations.

General Grynkewich highlighted that these technologies are not merely stopgaps but are setting new standards in how military formations must operate under 21st-century conditions. He pointed to Ukraine’s capacity to integrate rapidly evolving technologies at the brigade level by fostering direct cooperation with small defense tech firms. These partnerships have enabled field testing, adaptation, and full deployment within days, a pace of development virtually unheard of in traditional NATO acquisition systems. Grynkewich stated that NATO needs to embed similar innovation cycles within its own structures, creating pathways that bypass bureaucratic inertia and reward battlefield-driven ingenuity.

The war has also revealed a critical vulnerability in legacy armored vehicle platforms, many of which have proven highly susceptible to top-attack munitions and loitering drones. Ukrainian battlefield experience has made it clear that modern ground combat vehicles require a new generation of protection systems. These include modular composite armor solutions designed to resist tandem warheads, cage armor to defeat drone-delivered explosives, and increasingly, soft-kill and hard-kill active protection systems that can detect and intercept incoming threats. Just as vital is the integration of advanced electronic warfare systems that can jam drone guidance links, interfere with GPS signals, and create electronic cover for mechanized formations on the move.

Ukrainian forces have shown how even compact, vehicle-mounted electronic warfare suites can offer decisive survivability advantages. NATO commanders now recognize that electronic warfare is no longer a strategic or high-echelon function but must become an organic capability embedded within armored brigades. Grynkewich emphasized that every NATO armored vehicle, be it a main battle tank, infantry fighting vehicle, or support platform, must be equipped with a digital shield. This includes threat warning sensors, radar-based drone detectors, laser warning receivers, and battlefield-deployable electronic jamming units capable of defeating swarm attacks and autonomous targeting systems.

General Grynkewich warned that NATO cannot afford to rely solely on long-term pledges and delayed modernization cycles. Immediate operational capability is now a strategic imperative. He stressed that NATO’s detailed strategic plans already define what is required and that the alliance is actively presenting this shopping list to the defense industry. What is needed, he stated, is a defense industrial base that can act rapidly, supported by acquisition processes that no longer obstruct but instead accelerate innovation.

He also underscored the need for transatlantic industrial integration, declaring that it is no longer viable for the United States and Europe to operate fragmented supply chains or compartmentalized research and development efforts. Instead, NATO requires a seamless industrial base capable of delivering next-generation systems from autonomous strike drones to counter unmanned aerial systems, active protection systems for armored vehicles, and mobile electronic warfare units across the alliance. The general affirmed that this vision is now financially viable, as member states have committed to a 5 percent GDP defense investment target, marking what he called a historic accomplishment in collective burden sharing and strategic readiness.

In closing, Grynkewich stated that Ukraine’s experience has redefined how war is fought and how militaries must adapt. For NATO, he said, this is not just a lesson, it is an urgent directive to transform its own capability development into a wartime rhythm, where speed, adaptability, and innovation are the cornerstones of credible deterrence.