No Indo-Pacific peace without industry surge and burden sharing, US general says

HONOLULU — U.S. Army leaders assembled in Hawaii this week emphasized the importance of a multi-pronged effort, from the foxhole to the factory, necessary to deter near-peer adversaries across the vast Indo-Pacific. Speaking at the 2026 Land Forces Pacific Symposium and Exposition, U.S. Army Gen. Xavier Brunson, commander of United Nations Command, ROK/U.S. Combined Forces Command and U.S. Forces Korea, called the joint military-industrial approach “the ultimate guardian of peace.”Delivering the symposium’s opening keynote, Brunson cited military strength, industrial sustainability and allied collaboration as primary components needed to create “a true fortress for all our nations and interests here in the Indo-Pacific.” “Sustainment is not the tail,” Brunson said, referencing industrial networks capable of supporting far-reaching, forward combat operations across the region. “It’s the teeth of our deterrence,” he said. “Strategic concepts only survive as long as they are backed by industrial endurance.”Brunson’s “fortress” reference is a nod to a “fortress chain” of defense burden sharing among regional allies, such as South Korea, who have been ramping up industrial capabilities — weapons replenishment and equipment repair principally among them — to be positioned closer to the fight. “Korean dry docks have already overhauled [the] USNS Wally Schirra and Cesar Chavez, with two more in the queue,” he said, citing maintenance the ROK has completed on U.S. ships. “That is the operational blueprint. ... We cannot shuttle broken equipment across an ocean for repair while an adversary evolves on our doorstep.”That type of burden sharing, Brunson said, “complicates every adversary calculation.” For its part, the Trump administration has increasingly pushed for allies to take on more responsibility for regional defense spending.Across Europe, defense spending in 2025 surged 14% to $864 billion, according to a report published last month by the Stockholm International Peac