2024-08-03 07:02:43
Deployment of US weapons
More deterrence against Russia: return of the arms race?
Updated on 31.07.2024Reading time: 4 min.
US cruise missiles are to be stationed in Germany again from 2026. Almost a month after the announcement, details and background information are now becoming known.
With the approval of the German government, the USA wants to station land-based cruise missiles and longer-range rockets in Germany for the first time in decades. Can the plan provide an effective deterrent against Russia? Almost a month after the announcement, experts report on the details and background. An overview in questions and answers:
In just three sentences, the governments of the USA and Germany declared on July 10 on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington that long-range US weapons systems will be stationed in Germany from 2026. “When fully developed, these conventional units will include SM-6, Tomahawks and hypersonic weapons currently under development and will have a significantly greater range than the current land-based systems in Europe,” it said.
The USA spoke of a contribution to European deterrence and proof of the USA’s support for NATO. There were no details at the time.
What kind of weapons are supposed to come to Germany?
The Tomahawks are cruise missiles that can hit targets in Russia with a range of more than 2,000 kilometers. According to experts, they carry a 450-kilogram conventional warhead and hit with an accuracy of about ten meters.
The SM-6 are multi-purpose missiles. The guided missiles can defend against other missiles, but can also be used against ships and, in a modified version, against ground targets. In an emergency, both missiles are to be fired in Germany by a new mobile system called Typhon.
According to the German military expert and retired Brigadier General Heinrich Fischer, the new US hypersonic weapon (“Long Range Hypersonic Weapon”) is in the final phase of its development. It flies at five times the speed of sound and has a range of more than 2,500 kilometers, he writes in the specialist magazine “European Security & Technology” (August issue).
When were there last medium-range missiles in Germany?
That was during the Cold War. In 1979, NATO responded to the threat posed by Soviet SS20 medium-range missiles with the so-called Double Decision, which provided for the stationing of US Pershing II nuclear medium-range missiles and cruise missiles in Europe – but at the same time also for the start of disarmament negotiations with the Soviet Union. The latter ended in the so-called INF Treaty.
The treaty concluded in 1987 between the USA and the Soviet Union called for the elimination of all land-based ballistic missiles and cruise missiles with a shorter range of 500 to 1,000 kilometers and with a medium range of 1,000 to 5,500 kilometers. The agreement was then dissolved by the USA in 2019.
Washington justified the move by saying that Russia had developed a new land-based medium-range cruise missile system and was equipping its armed forces with it. The missiles are called 9M729 (NATO code: SSC-8) and, according to US intelligence information, are capable of delivering both conventional and nuclear warheads to their targets.
Is the stationing of US weapons in Germany a reaction to 9M729?
At least in part. Other reasons given include the stationing of Iskander missiles with nuclear warheads in the Kaliningrad exclave and the relocation of Russian fighter jets with Kinzhal air-to-ground hypersonic missiles there.
According to information from the German Ministry of Defense, the US weapons are intended to protect Germany primarily through deterrence. The aim is to make it clear to a potential attacker that an attack would do them more harm than good, says political director Jasper Wieck in a YouTube video on the subject. In an emergency, the weapons could be used to neutralize missile launch pads deep in Russian territory.
Nuclear weapons expert Hans Kristensen from the Federation of American Scientists answers this question with a clear no. “The version that was previously capable of nuclear warheads (Block II, TLAM-N) has been decommissioned and is no longer in the arsenal,” he explains. The W80-0 nuclear warheads were decommissioned in 2010 and destroyed in 2012.