From Ramstein Air Base in Germany is where US combat drone operations around the world are commanded. It is the most important logistics hub for US military missions in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe. What is known.
The US Ramstein Air Force Base in western Germany is like a whole separate world - a vast military zone with runways, hangars and many buildings. The base is actually a completely isolated self-contained small town in the middle of the Rhineland-Palatinate province. And although it is located on German territory, it has the immunity of an embassy: German officials and politicians can visit it only with the approval of its American commander.
In Rammstein – the largest US air force base in Europe - employs about 9,000 people. And not far from it is the largest American military hospital outside the United States. In total, about 50,000 Americans and their families live in the region. They have their own schools, shops and service providers, often paid in dollars. The American presence is also of great importance to the local economy.
Rammstein's importance grows
It all started in 1952 at an airport used during World War II by Hitler's Air Force, which the US Army took over just before the end of the war in 1945. The airport and administration building gradually became a large complex for the American units in Germany, and later – for NATO.
Since 1971, the air transport command has been located in Ramstein, which has its own planes. In 1973, the headquarters of the US Air Force in Europe was moved from Wiesbaden to Ramstein. A year later, one of NATO's air force command offices was established at the base. It is from Ramstein that NATO monitors the anti-missile defense of the Alliance, as well as the space activity of the member countries. NASA also occasionally uses Rammstein for research flights.
It is assumed that by 2005 – although this has not been officially confirmed – the airbase also housed nuclear weapons, which experts say were withdrawn in the year in question. The base “Büchel“ on the Eifel mountain is considered today to be the only place in Germany where there are American atomic weapons.
Directing combat drones
Rammstein Air Base is of great importance to the US military, and on a global scale. It is the most important logistics center for cargo and transport of US Air Force personnel, especially for missions in Africa, the Middle East and Eastern Europe.
In addition, Ramstein has a special and growing significance due to the fact that it is the headquarters from which US combat drones are directed around the world. This constantly raises debates as to whether Germany is indirectly involved in targeted anti-terrorist actions by the Americans in Asia and Africa, in which people also die. In 2013, the then American President Barack Obama said on this occasion that Germany was not a “starting point” about the drone strikes as claimed in the media. But that didn't end the accusations. Obama had announced drone attacks as the most important tool in the so-called “global war on terrorism“.
The media at the time mentioned the base and the alleged flights of hijacked terrorist suspects that passed through Ramstein on their way to US secret prisons.
Evacuation flights from Afghanistan
The airport is also regularly used for evacuation flights – such as rescuing people from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021 after the Taliban took over the country. Then the territory of the base was temporarily turned into a huge tent city, where the evacuees were accommodated.
After the Russian invasion of Ukraine, meetings of the countries supporting Ukraine were held in Ramstein. American Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has repeatedly visited the base to discuss arms supplies to Ukraine with representatives of dozens of other countries. Meanwhile – when it comes to supporters of Ukraine, they often talk about the “Rammstein Group”.
The dark days in Rammstein's history
In the 1980s, two major incidents were associated with Rammstein: in August 1981, terrorists from the “Red Army” organize a bomb attack on the base in which 20 people are seriously injured by the blast. At the time, American military installations were regularly targeted by left-wing extremists.
In August 1988, an air show was held in Ramstein. Three machines collide in the air and one of the planes falls on the stand with the spectators. 35 people died on the spot, as many later died of their wounds, and hundreds were injured. It is one of the biggest plane tragedies in history. Since then, no such air show entertainment has been organized in Ramstein.
Trump is for fewer US troops in Germany
During his presidency, Barack Obama repeatedly used Ramstein for stopovers. So did Donald Trump as president in 2018 on his way back from visiting soldiers in Iraq.
In the summer of 2020, he announced that he intended to significantly reduce the number of US troops in Germany, arguing that Germany was not paying enough for its defense. The former supreme commander of US forces in Europe, General Ben Hodges, criticized the plans at the time. In front of the magazine “Spiegel“ he said it was a “colossal mistake”: “The decision shows that the president does not understand how important the German-based units are to America's security.
With Democrat Joe Biden coming to power a few months later, the decision was overturned. But if Trump is re-elected president, the presence of US military in Germany and, accordingly, the important role of Rammstein could again be called into question.