US Army ups the ante in Europe versus Russia

A deactivated US Army Cold War artillery unit in Germany which used to host intermediate-range nuclear missiles targeting Russia has now been reformed and is preparing for its first hypersonic long-range weapon. The US 56th Artillery Command, based in Mainz-Kastel in western Germany, is to be armed with the Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon which will be capable of accelerating to more than five times the speed of sound (nearly 4,000mph). The re-emergence of 56th Artillery Command and the plan to arm it with the first hypersonic weapon reflect growing concerns in the Pentagon that Russia has succeeded in outgunning the US and Nato in Europe with longer-range artillery rockets and its own development of hypersonic weapons. After the Cold War ended the focus on maintaining strong defences in Germany and elsewhere in Europe diminished. Thousands of troops were withdrawn and units deactivated. However, in the new era of great-power rivalry between the US, Russia and China, Europe once again has become a frontline defence zone, and the most advanced weaponry is being earmarked for Germany to boost Nato’s conventional deterrence profile. Apart from the Dark Eagle hypersonic weapon, 56th Artillery Command is also expected to receive a ground-launched version of the US Navy’s Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile. Under a programme called Typhon the US Army has been developing launcher systems with the US Navy to fire a range of different missiles. They include the Tomahawk and the Standard extended range active missile (SM-6) which is being developed by the navy to intercept high-altitude or sea-skimming anti-ship missiles. Germany hosts America’s Europe and Africa commands. “The reactivation of the 56th Artillery Command will provide the US Army Europe and Africa with significant capabilities in multi-domain operations,” Major-General Stephen Maranian, commanding general of the artillery unit, said. He spoke of plans to deploy “future long-range surface-to-surface” missiles, a reference to the anticipated arrival of hypersonic weapons in Europe. Although no hypersonic missiles are yet ready for deployment, the first launcher systems mounted on trailers were delivered in September to an army base in Washington state for troops to begin training programmes. The Pentagon has previously confirmed that three tests of “hypersonic technologies, capabilities and prototype systems” linked to Dark Eagle had been carried out successfully. However, last month a hypersonic missile test in Alaska failed. The booster rocket with the hypersonic glide vehicle attached failed to launch at Kodiac in Alaska. The glide vehicle is supposed to be carried up to the edge of the Earth’s atmosphere and then released at more than Mach 5 to manoeuvre to its target without any form of propulsion. The newly reactivated 56th Artillery Command in Germany was officially stood down in 1991 as part of the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) signed by the US and the Soviet Union. The command’s nuclear Pershing II missiles which had been deployed in 1983 to counter Russia’s mobile nuclear-armed SS-20 systems, were withdrawn from Germany. Ground-launched nuclear cruise missiles in Britain and elsewhere in Europe were also dismantled. However, the INF treaty collapsed in 2019 following allegations by the Trump administration that Moscow was violating the agreement with the testing of a banned missile system. Russia first tested its SSC-8 cruise missile with a Nato-estimated range of 1,900 miles in 2008. Moscow claimed its range was only 300 miles, below the INF limits of 500-1,000 kilometres (310-620 miles) for short-to-medium-range missiles and 1,000-5,500 kilometres (620 to 3,420 miles) for intermediate-range systems.