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Germany says US has no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in the country
Germany has said the United States has no plans to deploy nuclear weapons in its country.
The deployment of American nuclear weapons in Germany is theoretically possible, but the US has no such plans in the near future, Claudia Major, a German defense expert and head of the security policy research group at the Foundation for Science and Politics (SWP), told Der Spiegel.
According to Major, Washington plans to deploy three types of weapons systems in Hesse: Tomahawk land-based cruise missiles with a range of up to 1,600 km, SM-6 ballistic missiles and Dark Eagle hypersonic missiles, which are still in the testing stage. She emphasized that all three systems will be installed in normal mode and will not be able to carry nuclear warheads.
"Theoretically, [deploying] nuclear weapons is possible, but it requires many steps, including political decisions, warhead development and technological rearmament. There is no indication that the United States is planning this anytime soon. Right now, we are only talking about existing systems," she said.
The expert noted that the deployment of American weapons in Germany occupies a central place in the concept of the US and NATO blockade.
Major has previously said that Russia has an advantage in nuclear weapons that Europe has little to counter. She said evidence has emerged since 2019 that Russia is developing land-based intermediate-range nuclear missiles, which are banned by the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty.