The European theater needs a multidomain task force of the type that has existed in the Indo-Pacific theater since 2017, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, who is in charge of U.S. Army Europe and Africa, said Wednesday.

During a virtual Association of the U.S. Army meeting Wednesday, Cavoli touted the need for a new "Theater Fires Command," which would include a multi-domain task force that brings together cyber, space and electronic warfighting capabilities -- as well as more artillery.

In a press release earlier this week the Army touted MDTFs as the centerpiece of modernization, but acknowledges that the concept has yet to become Army doctrine.

"We are very eager to get capabilities like that over here," he said, adding that a Theater Fires Command would enable soldiers to "push away out of a close fight and be able to fight a little bit more at a standoff, so that when we do engage in a close fight, it would be under much more advantageous circumstances."

The Army stood up a multidomain task force in 2017, now based out of Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, and plans to stand up a second one in Europe later this year.

This year it plans to add a European MDTF and a second MDTF in the Pacific theater. Shortly after the Army released its fiscal year 2021 budget request, the service issued an unfunded requirements list to Congress that included $151.4 million for enhancements for the European and Indo-Pacific MDTF units, including funding for a second and third unit.

"The capabilities that the multidomain task force are going to bring and help us integrate, the expertise that it will bring, are going to be very, very important to updating the way we plan to operate on the European continent," Cavoli said.

Cavoli also noted that multi-domain efforts could have a role in supporting Africa, where Russia and China are "extremely active in competing for influence and access."

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