STUTTGART, Germany (Reuters) AUGUST 3, 2017 – The U.S. military is moving toward more global exercises to better prepare for a more assertive Russia and other worldwide threats, a senior officer said in an interview with Reuters.

Officials realized they needed to better prepare for increasingly complex threats across all domains of war – land, sea, air, space and cyber

Air Force Brigadier General John Healy, who directs exercises for U.S. forces in Europe, said officials realized they needed to better prepare for increasingly complex threats across all domains of war – land, sea, air, space and cyber.

 U.S. CH-47 Chinook and Black Hawk helicopters take part in Suwalki gap defence exercise in Mikyciai, Lithuania, June 17, 2017

Some smaller-scale war games with a global focus had already occurred, but the goal was to carry out more challenging exercises by fiscal year 2020 that involved forces from all nine U.S. combatant commands – instead of focusing on specific regions or one military service, such as the Marines.

 war games and training were imperative to rehearse for possible conflicts

“What we’re eventually going toward is a globally integrated exercise program so that we (are) … all working off the same sheet of music in one combined global exercise,” Healy said in an interview this week.

He said war games and training were imperative to rehearse for possible conflicts and they needed to reflect the global nature of today’s military threats, including cyber warfare.

  Lithuanian army soldiers take part in Suwalki gap defence exercise in Mikyciai, Lithuania, June 17, 2017

Healy said Russia was his main focus in Europe, and officials were keeping a close watch on Moscow’s Zapad military exercises that begin next month and which experts say could involve about 100,000 troops.