NATO will need more long-range missiles in its arsenal to deter Russia from attacking Europe, as Moscow is expected to ramp up production of long-range weapons, a U.S. Army general said. Russia’s effective use of long-range missiles in its war against Ukraine has convinced Western military officials of their importance for striking command posts, transportation hubs, and missile launchers far behind enemy lines.
“The Russian army is bigger today than it was when they started the war in Ukraine,” said Major General John Rafferty in an interview at a U.S. military base in Wiesbaden, Germany. “And we know that they're going to continue to invest in long-range rockets and missiles and sophisticated air defenses. So more alliance capability is really, really important.”
The war in Ukraine has underscored Europe’s heavy dependence on the United States to provide long-range missile capabilities, especially as Kyiv continues to seek stronger air defense systems. Rafferty recently completed his assignment as commander of the U.S. Army’s 56th Artillery Command in Mainz-Kastel, Germany, which is preparing for the temporary deployment of long-range U.S. missiles on European soil starting in 2026.
At an upcoming meeting with U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius is expected to seek clarification on whether such deployments—initially agreed upon during Joe Biden’s presidency—will move forward now that Donald Trump is back in the White House. The agreement includes plans to deploy systems such as the Tomahawk missile, with a range of 1,800 km, and the developmental hypersonic weapon Dark Eagle, capable of striking targets at around 3,000 km.
Russia has condemned the planned deployments as a serious threat to its national security. While dismissing NATO's warnings about a potential attack on an alliance member, Moscow has cited NATO expansion as one of the justifications for its 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Fabian Hoffmann, a doctoral research fellow at Oslo University specializing in missile systems, estimates that the U.S. currently provides about 90% of NATO’s long-range strike capabilities. “Long-range strike capabilities are crucial in modern warfare,” he said. “You really, really don’t want to be caught in a position like Ukraine [without such weapons] in the first year. That puts you at an immediate disadvantage.”
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Acknowledging this vulnerability, European NATO members have agreed to increase defense spending, partly in response to pressure from Trump. While some European nations do possess long-range missile systems, their range and numbers remain limited. U.S. missiles, by contrast, can strike targets several thousand miles away.
Europe’s primary air-launched cruise missiles—Britain’s Storm Shadow, France’s Scalp, and Germany’s Taurus—have ranges of several hundred kilometers. France’s sea-launched MdCN (Missile de Croisière Naval) can travel over 620 miles. All these systems are manufactured by MBDA, a European arms consortium with branches in the UK, France, Germany, and Italy.
France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Britain, and Sweden are now jointly participating in a program to acquire long-range, ground-launched conventional missiles under the initiative known as the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA). As part of the program, Britain and Germany announced in mid-May that they would begin development of a new missile system with a range exceeding 1,240 miles.