For the first time since the Cold War, the US plans to station weapons systems in Germany that could reach as far as Russia.

From 2026, Germany could host weapons such as SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles, Tomahawk cruise missiles and developmental hypersonic weapons with a longer range than those currently held in Europe.

These deployments are a step toward longer-term stationing of long-fire weapons in Germany.

Additionally, US President Biden announced that Denmark and the Netherlands had begun sending US-made F-16 jets to Ukraine – making good on a key promise last year to Kyiv, which has struggled to match Russia’s air capabilities.

End of a key disarmament treaty

Germany hasn’t had ground-based missiles with a range exceeding 500 kilometres in over 30 years, due to a disarmament treaty that seems to have run its course.

The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty had prohibited the use of such weapons. It was signed by the Soviet Union’s Mikhail Gorbachev and former U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1987.

Germany, Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic all followed suit, destroying their missiles in the 1990s. Slovakia and Bulgaria also joined later on.

But the US withdrew from the treaty in 2019, suggesting that Russia had violated the agreement by developing a ground-launched cruise missile.

With the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty effectively dead, NATO and Russia appear to be inching toward a Cold-War style arms race. Russia has since said it should resume production of intermediate and shorter range nuclear-capable missiles, and the US has moved to position these kinds of weapons in Europe and Asia.

NATO is preparing for dark times

The US-German announcement, which was issued on Wednesday July 10th, is certainly a strong signal to Russia. It comes at the end of NATO’s 75th anniversary summit, where it was also announced that Ukraine was on an “irreversible path to NATO membership”.

In addition to deploying the long-fire weapons capabilities, the US army base in Wiesbaden is to be NATO’s hub for coordinated arms deliveries and training activities for the Ukrainian armed forces. 

Some 700 personnel are to be deployed for the new NATO command, of which Germany wants to provide up to 40, including a two-star general as deputy commander.

An effort to strengthen Germany – US ties

The NATO project may also be a precaution ahead of the possible return of Donald Trump to the US presidency from January 2025.

During his previous term, Trump threatened to withdraw the US from NATO and railed against what he considered to be low defence spending by European allies. In his current campaign he has said the US shouldn’t offer protection to NATO countries that did not meet their financial obligations.

Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, Biden had increased the US military’s troop presence in Germany and Europe. 

“We can, and will, defend every inch of NATO territory and we’ll do it together,” Biden reiterated at the recent NATO summit.

But with Trump well ahead in polls in the US, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz seems interested in strengthening ties between the US and German militaries while he still can.

The deployment of further US weapons in Germany will make it harder for future US presidents to pull the US out of its alliance.

With reporting by DPA and AFP.