The US will deploy long-range weapons in Germany.
RT reports that the US will deploy long-range missiles in Germany starting in 2026, according to a statement from both governments. These weapons, including SM-6 and Tomahawk systems, were banned on the continent until Washington abrogated a key Cold War treaty in 2019.
According to a joint statement released by the White House, the U.S. will “begin the phased deployment of multi-domain task force long-range firepower capabilities in Germany in 2026, as part of a long-term plan for future deployment of these capabilities.”
This statement was issued following talks between US and German officials at the annual NATO summit in Washington on July 10.
The weapons systems deployed to Germany will include SM-6 anti-aircraft missiles, with a range of up to 460 km, and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are believed to be capable of striking targets more than 2,500 km away.
The White House said that “hypersonic weapons under development” will also be deployed in Germany and will have a “significantly longer range than current land-based firepower in Europe.”
According to RT, the US has yet to successfully develop hypersonic weapons and has canceled all hypersonic projects since its first successful test in 2017.
Ground-launched missiles with a range of 500km to 5,500km were banned on European soil under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Ronald Reagan and Mikhail Gorbachev in 1987.
Along with the START-I and START-II agreements, the INF Treaty helped ease nuclear tensions in Europe after the West and the Soviet Union came close to nuclear war during NATO's Able Archer military exercise in 1983.
The US withdrew from the INF Treaty in 2019, with the State Department alleging that some Russian cruise missiles violated the agreement. Moscow denied this, and Russian President Vladimir Putin warned then-US President Donald Trump that canceling the treaty would have “the most serious consequences.”
RT reported that Russia has continued to comply with the treaty and imposed a ban on the development of missiles it prohibits. However, earlier this month, Putin stated that the Russian defense industry would continue to develop such weapons, citing "hostile actions" by the United States.
"Now we know that the US not only manufactures these missile systems but also delivers them to Europe, to Denmark, for use in exercises," Putin explained at the time.
US and Danish forces trained with SM-6 missiles last September, while the Pentagon deployed the Typhon Weapon System – capable of firing both SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles – to the Philippines in April.
