2024-08-04 05:44:40
From 2026, the USA will station extensive weapons systems in Germany in order to deter Russia militarily. A retired general argues for the step and explains what it is all about.
The stationing of long-range US weapons in Germany, announced in response to Russian threats, is “urgently required” according to retired Brigadier General Heinrich Fischer. “It sends a clear signal in the alliance that the USA is the leading power and improves the credibility of deterrence through an increase in conventional capabilities,” Fischer writes in the specialist magazine “European Security & Technology” (August issue).
And: “The reactions from the Kremlin show the increased deterrent value that can be achieved through the intended stationing of this category of weapons.” Fischer was most recently commander of the Army Schools and deputy chief of the Army Office.
On the sidelines of the NATO summit in Washington, the US and Germany announced the stationing of Tomahawk cruise missiles, SM-6 missiles and new hypersonic weapons from 2026. According to Fischer, a Typhon battery – consisting of a command post, supply vehicles and missile launchers – can fire both SM-6 missiles and Tomahawk cruise missiles from containers.
The Tomahawk has a range of more than 1,000 kilometers, carries a 450 kilogram conventional warhead and is accurate to about 10 meters. The SM-6 missile is “multi-role capable”: It can defend against ballistic missiles in their final flight phase, be used against ships and, in a modified version, also against ground targets.
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.
In his analysis, Fischer refers to weapons systems in the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which pose a real threat to NATO defense planning in Central Europe and the Baltic region. In the event of a conflict, NATO land forces cannot therefore be moved from the center to NATO’s eastern flank in a timely manner and in the required strength. A collapse of the defense by the NATO troops already present there would be accelerated. “The territory of the Federal Republic of Germany would be exposed to an increased threat in this process in its role as a strategic logistical hub,” he states.
According to Fischer, the weapons are necessary to destroy Russian military potential that can prevent NATO troops from entering an operational area (“Anti Access”) or from having freedom of operation in the operational area (“Area Denial”). According to the general, this fight is carried out in five phases. In the first phase of competition, enemy forces are closely monitored before an armed conflict and then gradually destroyed in a conflict in order to create room for maneuver for the country’s own troops.
Fischer sees the stationing as a significant increase in NATO’s conventional capabilities, which will strengthen the credibility of the deterrence strategy “while simultaneously raising the nuclear threshold.” He recalls that the Tomahawks stationed in Germany during the Cold War carried a nuclear warhead.