On July 10, 2024, the United States government announced that it will deploy missiles to Germany that would have been prohibited under the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.
During the Trump administration, in 2019 specifically, the US withdrew from this treaty. According to a report by Dave DeCamp of Antiwar.com, the INF banned land-based missile systems with a range between 310 and 3,400 miles.
The missile deployment to Germany consists of a terrestrial version of nuclear-capable Tomahawk missiles, which have a range of roughly 1,000 miles. These missiles are mainly used by US Navy vessels and submarines.
“The United States will begin episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities of its Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany in 2026, as part of planning for enduring stationing of these capabilities in the future,” the US and Germany announced in a joint statement issued during a NATO summit in Washington DC.
“When fully developed, these conventional long-range fires units will include SM-6, Tomahawk, and developmental hypersonic weapons, which have significantly longer range than current land-based fires in Europe,” the statement continued.
According to the statement, the US will likely have plans to deploy a Typhon launcher, a covert system that can fire Tomahawks and SM-6 missiles. The SM-6 can reach targets up to 290 miles away. This range falls below the levels that the INF previously prohibited.
On a prior occasion, the US government deployed Typhon launchers for military exercises being conducted in the Philippines and Denmark. The announcement of a planned deployment of the missile system to Germany comes in the wake of Russian President Vladimir Putin announcing that the Russian government should follow in the US government’s footsteps by developing weapons previously prohibited under the INF.
At the time of the US’s withdrawal from the INF treaty, it asserted that Russia was in violation of agreement by developing the 9M729 cruise missile, which is launched from the ground. Russian officials rejected claims that the development of this missile violated the treaty, asserting it had a maximum range of 298 miles.
On top of that, Russia accused the US government of potentially violating the INF by setting up Aegis Ashore missile defense systems in Poland and Romania. The systems use Mk-41 vertical launchers, which can launch Tomahawk missiles.
The US is playing with fire. Russia is no pushover country, as it is a battle-hardened great power with a vast nuclear arsenal. By engaging in such provocative behavior, the US brings itself much closer to a direct clash with Russia.
US policymakers should rethink their policies with Russia. Instead, defense systems should be placed on the US’s southern border — the one national security blindspot that merits a serious national defense agenda.
Europe’s problems are ultimately for European nations to resolve, not the US in this case.