news

reference news reported on september 16 the german magazine der spiegel reported on september 12 that among the several u.s. military weapons that will be deployed in germany in 2026, the hypersonic missile named "dark hawk" has the longest range. u.s. military expert andrew fechter wrote in a report to the u.s. congressional research service that the range of the "dark hawk" is about 2,800 kilometers. timothy wright and douglas barry, two experts from the international institute for strategic studies in london, even believe that the range of this u.s. weapon exceeds 3,000 kilometers. this means that launching this missile from germany can hit inland targets in russia, including moscow.

us president biden and german chancellor scholz decided to deploy us long-range weapons in germany as a "deterrence and defense" measure during the nato washington summit in july. if the decision remains unchanged, it means that the us land-based medium-range weapons will be deployed in germany for the first time since the 1980s. in addition to the dark hawk, the tomahawk cruise missile is also planned to be deployed.

the report said that after launch, the dark hawk can fly to an altitude of about 400 kilometers and rush to the target at five times the speed of sound. in contrast, cruise missiles fly slower and at lower altitudes: for example, the tomahawk has a maximum speed of about 900 kilometers per hour and a minimum flight altitude of about 30 meters. experts estimate its range to be between 1,500 and 1,600 kilometers, but it is said that there are models with a range of 2,500 kilometers.

although the agreement reached between the united states and germany only vaguely states that in addition to the tomahawk and standard-6 missiles planned to be deployed in germany, there are also "hypersonic weapons currently under development", experts such as ulrich kühn, director of arms control research at the university of hamburg, germany, are convinced that the hypersonic weapon mentioned in the agreement is the dark hawk.

markus schiller, a missile expert at the german federal armed forces university in munich, said: "we have heard from different sources that the us troops stationed in wiesbaden are likely to be equipped with the 'dark hawk'." he said that the us military can launch raids with the "dark hawk" because this american hypersonic weapon can fly at altitudes that are beyond the reach of various missile defense systems.

the missile expert believes that the us military is unlikely to launch dark hawk, tomahawk or standard missile-6 from the missile base in wiesbaden during wartime, but will deploy the missiles to other places in germany before launching, making it difficult for the enemy to detect their location. (compiled by wang qing)