The U.S. surged thousands more soldiers and equipment into eastern Poland last week. The airlift to Rzeszow puts at least two brigades of the 82nd Airborne Division just a one hour’s drive from Ukraine’s border. The intent is clear: to deter Russian forces from threatening NATO’s eastern flank in the event that they first invade Ukraine. That invasion is widely believed to be imminent.
Yet it was more complicated for the 82nd Airborne to get to Poland than appears necessary.
That’s because these forces did not overfly Germany on their flight to Europe from Fort Bragg. The most direct flight route from Fort Bragg to Rzeszow would have seen the dozens of C-17 transport aircraft overfly German airspace, just north of the city of Hamburg. Instead, the C-17s flew through Danish airspace, approximately 100 miles north. When they had passed Germany’s northeastern border frontier, the aircraft then angled south into Poland.
Why did the aircraft not overfly German airspace? British air force transporters did something similar while delivering anti-tank weapons to Ukraine. In that case, the British did not request permission to transit German airspace, but only because they feared that such a request would have made Germany uncomfortable. Germany, after all, adamantly refuses to provide Ukraine with lethal weaponry as it confronts the threat of Russian invasion.
Did the U.S. Air Force apply a similar rationale to its evasion of German airspace? Did the U.S. deliberately avoid German airspace in order to avoid risking Berlin’s ire over a request to fly combat forces to Poland?
It certainly seems that way. There is no weather or wind direction excuse I can identify to explain so many different C-17 flights taking the same diversionary route. Seeking clarification, I sent repeated emails to the Pentagon’s European Command and the U.S. Air Force in Europe. These went unanswered.
If U.S. military flights in support of a NATO ally, Poland, are indeed wasting fuel and time so as to help Germany save face and avoid taking sides, this raises yet another concern over Germany’s credibility as a NATO ally. It’s one thing for Germany to be uncomfortable with arms supplies to Ukraine. It’s far more serious if the U.S. military believes Germany would be uncomfortable even allowing overflights in support of a fellow NATO ally.
Again, even if overflight requests were not made, it is alarming that the Pentagon might worry about making such a basic request. Perhaps there is a prosaic explanation for the chosen flight routes, but either way, the public deserves some answers.
