The United States’ decision to dramatically increase its long-range fire capabilities in Europe starting in 2026 appears set to trigger a response from Russia, as a new missile race gathers pace in Europe. Announced yesterday, the U.S. plan calls for “episodic deployments” followed by “longer-term stationing” of various types of long-range missiles suggesting that, eventually, at least some of these weapons will be permanently deployed in Germany, in a throwback to the Cold War era.

The United States will deploy to Germany a range of advanced ground-launched weapons, including the SM-6 multi-purpose missile and Tomahawk cruise missile as well as “developmental hypersonic weapons” — a reference to the yet-to-be-fielded Dark Eagle and potentially others, like the Operational Fires (OpFires) ground-launched hypersonic missile system and the Precision Strike Missile (PrSM) short-range ballistic missile, both of which are also now in development.