The Pentagon has declined to disclose details about the long-range missiles it plans to begin deploying in Germany in 2026, only mentioning "Tomahawk" and "SM-6" in its statement released on Wednesday.
"Tomahawk" is part of a family of long-range cruise missiles launched from submarines, surface ships, land, and air. It has been in service with the U.S. Army since 1983 and comes in various versions that mainly differ in terms of the type of warhead, maximum flight range, and guidance system. The missile has a range of up to 2,500 kilometers, while the distance from Germany to Russian territory (excluding Kaliningrad) is approximately 1,200 km. Its other specifications are:
- Length (most variants): 5.56 m (6.25 m with booster)
- Diameter: 53 cm
- Wingspan: 2.62 m
- Weight: between 1,180 and 1,500 kg (with booster)
- Speed: 880 km/h
- Warhead weight: 450 kg
- Guidance system: Global Positioning System, terrain contour matching, digital scene matching area correlation, inertial navigation.
The SM-6 is an air-to-air missile developed by Raytheon and is an upgrade of the RIM-156 SM-2ER missile family, with the main difference being the enhanced guidance system in the terminal phase of flight (active radar guidance). The maximum range of this missile is approximately 450 km. Its technical specifications include:
- Length: 6.55 m
- Weight: 1,500 kg
- Speed: up to 3.5 Mach (4,287.7 km/h)
- Target altitude: more than 33 km
- Launcher type: Mk 41 (Aegis systems)
- Warhead weight: 115 kg
- Guidance system: inertial navigation, semi-active radar guidance, and active radar guidance.
