The German Government insists so much through the mouth of its chancellor, Friedrich Merzas well as the Minister of Defense, Boris Pistoriusor the Foreign Office, Johann Wadephulthat the withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from its territory will not diminish the NATO deterrent capability in Europe. But he admits his concern about not having the American Tomahawk cruise missile, as Berlin and Washington had agreed with Joe Biden in the White House, since it represents a “capacity gap” defensive, according to Pistorius.
“We have to see how to close that gap,” the Defense Minister said this Monday. Since 2023, work has been underway on “temporary solutions” and the development of high-precision defensive systems – called DPS – with the United Kingdom and France. But today it has not been resolved and, in any case, its development will take time.
Pistorius made these observations from a military installation in Munster, after the previous night, in an interview, Merz admitted that the US will not deploy the Tomahawks on German territory. The chancellor explained that Washington needs these missiles for its offensive against Iranas it has supposedly used about a quarter of its stock in the region so far. The longest-range cruise missiles in Germany’s possession are the Taurus, with a range of 500 kilometers, while the Tomahawks reach 2,500 kilometers.
Merz’s conservative ranks have warned of the danger of not having these weapons to counter the nuclear threat posed by Russia. The Munich newspaper South German newspaper has recalled that Moscow has its missiles deployed in its Kaliningrad enclave Iskanderto which Germany has no capacity to respond.
Planned reduction
Merz ruled out in his interview that the decision of Donald Trump withdrawing 5,000 soldiers from their bases in Germany is a product of discomfort caused by his statement in which he claimed that Tehran had “humiliated” the United States. He has insisted, as have his ministers, that this troop reduction was planned.
In total, the United States has some 36,000 soldiers stationed in its bases in Germany, the largest of which, Ramstein, is the mainstay of its operations in Iran and the rest of the Middle East. Both the aforementioned newspaper and the Bavarian public radio and television report that the withdrawal will materialize in the so-called Stryker Brigade of Vilseck, in that region. According to these media, the measure was scheduled in 2020, under Trump’s first presidential term, but then Biden suspended that order.
Subscribe to continue reading
