General Alexus G. Grynkewich, supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR), and Mark Rutte, NATO secretary general, hold a joint press conference on the violation of Polish airspace by Russian drones, at the NATO headquarters in Brussels on September 12, 2025. SIMON WOHLFAHRT/AFP
Since July, General Alexus G. Grynkewich has served as NATO's new supreme allied commander Europe (SACEUR). In this role, he is also the commander of all the United States forces deployed in Europe.
On Wednesday, September 23, he is scheduled to make his first visit to France, notably to meet the new head of the French armed forces, General Fabien Mandon, in Paris. The visit comes at a crucial time for the alliance, which faces increasing incursions of Russian drones and fighter jets along its eastern flank.
To many Europeans, it now seems like Russia can send drones or even fighter jets into NATO members' airspace whenever it wishes. What can you tell them about that?
We've proven our ability to intercept those drones and shoot them down when they came into Poland [on September 10], and we're reinforcing and building a more flexible and agile plan to counter drone activity or any Russian activity in the air through "Eastern Sentry," our new enhanced vigilance activity [launched on September 12], which will synchronize, across the eastern flank, all of our air policing efforts that have existed in the past and our ground-based air defense.
