U.S. Army Gen. Curtis Scaparrotti, formerly head of U.S. Forces Korea, has formally taken charge of the U.S. European Command, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Lisa Ferdinando writes Scaparrotti succeeds U.S. Air Force Gen. Philip Breedlove, who is retiring after a 39-year military career, and will also assume duties as the NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and U.S. Marine Corps Gen. Joe Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led the change of command ceremony held Tuesday at Eucom headquarters in Stuttgart, Germany.

Scaparrotti said the command will continue its effort to combat aggression in the region, deploy contingency forces, fortify international partnerships and engage in war if deterrence efforts fail, according to the report.

He added several challenges in Europe such as the aggressive behavior of Russia in Crimea, terrorism and the migrant crisis, Ferdinando reports.

An estimated 2,000 U.S. Army soldiers will test updates to the service branch’s tactical communications equipment at the two-week Network Integration Evaluation 16.2 event that kicked off Monday.

The soldiers from the 1st Armored Division of the Army’s 2nd Brigade Combat Team will conduct combined arms maneuver missions at Fort Bliss to build on previous NIE efforts to evaluate the tactical network, the Army said Monday.

“NIE is really a team-of-teams effort between 1st Armored Division, Operational Test Command and the acquisition community,” said Brig. Gen. Terrence McKenrick, commanding general of the Brigade Modernization Command.

The Army said that NIE looks to keep the service branch updated on communications technology, support integrated network and mission command and address solider feedback.

“We have repeatedly seen the value of hands-on soldier feedback from NIE to help the Army make better decisions in our modernization efforts, while simplifying and cyber-hardening the system of systems network,” said Douglas Wiltsie, executive director of the Army’s system of systems engineering and integration directorate.

NIE 16.2, which will conclude on May 14, will cover network simplification and management as well as refresh command post requirements through an assessment of the Command Post Computing Environment‘s second version, the service branch added.

The Army will also commence the first official Army Warfighting Assessment event in the fall to complement NIE and to provide warfighters an experimental environment that looks to assess requirements and address needs in a joint and coalition environment.

It added that both events look to push for innovation, modernization, readiness and new capabilities for the future force.

Deputy Defense Secretary Robert Work discussed defense cooperation and regional threats in a meeting between the U.S. and Nordic and Baltic countries, DoD News reported Tuesday.

Cheryl Pellerin writes the meeting focused on defense cooperation, Russian activities in Europe and anti-terrorism efforts against the Islamic State militant group.

“Finland has about a 1,500-kilometer border with Russia, so they have a very keen sense of what Russia is doing; whereas the Balts, who also are right on the border, have been very concerned about aggressive Russian activities,” Work said.

He added that he met with Peter Hultqvist, Swedish secretary of state for defense, to further discuss Sweden’s perspective on the Baltic Sea situation and Russia’s behavior, Pellerin reports.

During his visit, Work also talked with Swedish Supreme Commander Gen. Micael Byden about bilateral defense initiatives and NATO partnership projects as well as regional security, DoD News reported.

Work ended his trip with a visit to Belgium where he introduced the Third Offset Strategy to participating NATO officials, the report said.

Mary Miller, formerly deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Army for research and technology, has been named principal deputy assistant secretary for research and engineering at the Defense Department’s office of the defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology and logistics.

Defense Secretary Ashton Carter announced Miller’s appointment to the Senior Executive Service role in a DoD release published Tuesday.

Miller most recently led the Army’s research and technology programs, overseeing an annual budget of approximately $2 billion and managing 16 research and engineering centers and laboratories.

She spent five years as director for technology at the office of the assistant secretary of the Army for acquisition, logistics and technology and four years as deputy director of technology for aviation, missiles, soldier and precision strike at DoD.

Miller was former lead of the nonlinear optical processes team at the Army Research Laboratory and head of the advanced optics team under the night-vision and electro-optics directorate’s laser division within the Army’s Communications Electronics Research, Development and Engineering Center.

She joined the service branch in 1984 as an electronics engineer.

Miller holds four patents for sensor protection designs and is a recipient of the Army Research & Development Achievement Award in recognition of her work on nonlinear materials for sensor protection.

She has Level 3 certification in program management and systems planning, research, development and engineering for systems engineering as well as Level 2 certification in SPRDE for program systems engineering.