New Commander Takes Helm of Europe’s Expanding Air Shield
A new chapter opened for the U.S. Army’s air and missile defense mission in Europe as Brig. Gen. Glenn Henke assumed command of the 10th Army Air and Missile Defense Command during a ceremony at Sembach Kaserne, Germany.
The timing is hardly symbolic—Europe’s skies haven’t been this tense since the Cold War, and the 10th AAMDC is right at the heart of keeping them secure.
Henke took the reins from Brig. Gen. Curtis King, who led the command through an era of nonstop operational expansion.
Under King’s leadership, the unit extended America’s air defense reach from the Arctic circle to the Horn of Africa, deploying rapidly to NATO’s eastern flank as Russian hostilities intensified and Iran stirred trouble in the Middle East.
Gen. Christopher Donahue, commander of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, presided over the ceremony and made it clear that the 10th AAMDC had set the gold standard for modern air defense readiness. He lauded King for proving that the United States can shift air-defense assets across continents in days, not months, a feat he described as “unheard of in air defense history.”
Among those swift missions was the deployment of the U.S.-made Merops counter-drone system to Poland and Romania. Those countries, sitting on NATO’s fragile eastern front, were seeing constant drone incursions blamed squarely on Russia.
Thanks to America’s muscle and the innovation of its systems, those incursions were met with a capable shield that Europe had been sorely lacking.
King’s command also supported air defense forces sent briefly to U.S. Central Command’s area of responsibility during Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
Although officials were tight-lipped on the details, it was clear that the 10th AAMDC’s assets were integral to defending coalition forces. Donahue also noted that troops were sent to Turkey to bolster protection along NATO’s southern flank as Iran’s aggression simmered on the horizon.
The command doesn’t just operate in Europe—it extends into Africa, where forces in Djibouti continue to protect critical American and allied assets in a strategically vital region often overlooked by civilian policymakers in Washington.
The scale of these operations proves why the 10th has evolved from a support command into a combat-ready force built for the 21st century.
In his farewell speech, King underscored the urgency of his mission to adapt to new-age warfare defined by swarms of drones and high-velocity missiles.
He described the creation of the Eastern Flank Deterrence Initiative, aimed at uniting manned and unmanned defense systems under a common intelligence network capable of instantly relaying battlefield data. The initiative, he said, was meant to ensure NATO could not just defend, but dominate.
“The mission is clear,” King told the assembled soldiers.
“To counter mass by defeating one-way attack drones, cruise missiles, ballistic missiles, to enable the offense to inflict overwhelming violence on the enemy.” It was a plainspoken statement reflecting the clarity of purpose the Army needs in a new age of high-tech war.
That clarity is precisely what Henke inherits. A combat veteran of Iraq, Henke reminded attendees that when he left Europe two decades ago, the Army had just deactivated its last Bradley Stinger Fighting Vehicle battery.
Back then, the experts claimed air threats to ground troops were a thing of the past. “We all know that is now our present and our future,” he said, acknowledging the hard truth of today’s battlefield realities.
Henke’s background is fit for the fight ahead. As the former military deputy director of the Pentagon’s Joint Counter–Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems Office, he brings a wealth of knowledge on combating the very drone technologies transforming modern warfare.
His goal now is to ensure that the 10th AAMDC can detect, track, and destroy airborne threats before they can endanger allied forces or sovereign lands.
The timing of Henke’s appointment couldn’t be more consequential. The War Department is refocusing on Europe’s security architecture after years of neglect under weak leadership in Washington.
Thankfully, with strong military voices like Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the steady backing of President Trump’s America First national defense posture, commands like the 10th are equipped, motivated, and politically unshackled to do what’s necessary to keep the peace from a position of undeniable strength.
As Patriot missile launchers framed the change-of-command ceremony, the symbolism was striking. The soldiers standing at attention in the German morning air represented more than tradition—they embodied readiness.
From Poland to Romania and Turkey to Djibouti, they are America’s sentinels, ensuring no adversary ever again mistakes NATO’s resolve for weakness.
With Henke now in command, the mission continues relentlessly.
Europe’s skies are crowded and contested, but thanks to America’s warriors and the leadership of men like Henke and Hegseth, they remain under the protection of the most powerful military the world has ever seen.
