A US decision to withdraw 5,000 troops from Germany and cancel deployment of a special long-range strike battalion gives Europe yet another reason to rue its security dependency on a reckless Trump administration. The reduction in headcount, out of 80,000 US forces in Europe, is less important than the axing of a planned task force equipped with ground-launched Tomahawk cruise missiles and experimental hypersonic missiles. That move alone will leave a crucial capability gap just as Europe’s Nato members are gearing up to take more responsibility for their defence.
The manner of the announcement further weakens confidence in America’s commitment to the Atlantic alliance. It also suggests the Trump administration is not serious about coordinating a burden-shifting effort that spurs Europeans to take primary charge of their security while not leaving them more exposed to Russian attack.
Precision-targeted missiles and drones with a range of over 1,000km are an increasingly important offensive capability, as the wars in Ukraine and Iran have shown. An ability to destroy military facilities and defence production sites deep inside Russia rather than waiting to repel invading Russian forces would give Europe’s Nato members a powerful deterrent. It is vital that Europe acquires its own ground-launched missiles and drones and several development programmes are under way. But it will take at least five years to build up sufficient stocks.