How dangerous is the new US-Russia missile race?

Experts agree that chances of the US and Russia arriving at a breakthrough arms control deal of the kind struck by Reagan and Gorbachev in the 1980s are remote

A US Navy guided-missile submarine capable of carrying up to 154 Tomahawk missiles. On July 10, the United States said it would start deployment in Germany from 2026 of weapons that will include SM-6s and Tomahawks, previously placed mainly on ships, and new hypersonic missiles. Picture: US Navy via AP

Four decades ago, the United States deployed cruise and Pershing II nuclear missiles in Europe to counter Soviet SS-20s — a move that stoked Cold War tensions but led within years to a historic disarmament deal.

"We can be proud of planting this sapling, which may one day grow into a mighty tree of peace," Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev told US president Ronald Reagan in December 1987 as they agreed to dismantle the rival systems under a treaty that scrapped all ground-based shorter-range and intermediate-range (INF) nuclear and conventional weapons — those with ranges between 500km and 5,500km.