A long-planned deployment of an Army long-range fire battalion to Germany has been canceled, a defense official confirmed to Task & Purpose.
The 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment had been scheduled to deploy to Germany later this year as part of episodic deployments of long-range fire capabilities that both countries announced in July 2024, Task & Purpose has confirmed. Now, several hundred soldiers from the Fort Drum, New York, unit are in limbo.
CNN first reported on the cancellation, citing the May 1 memo that also canceled the rotational deployment of roughly 4,000 soldiers from the 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division to Poland. That order came as hundreds of soldiers from the armored unit had already arrived in the country as part of the handoff with the departing force.
It’s the latest change to U.S. posture in Europe, and shifts plans for something that had been in the works for two years. The United States had been expanding its military presence in central and eastern Europe since 2022, in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It has rotated in several units as part of Operation Atlantic Resolve, in support of NATO partner forces. In July 2024, the United States and NATO announced plans to “begin episodic deployments of the long-range fires capabilities of its Multi-Domain Task Force in Germany in 2026, as part of planning for enduring stationing of these capabilities in the future.”
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The more than 500 soldiers of 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment were set to join the Germany-based 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, which it falls under, later this year. The unit would operate long-range and hypersonic missiles, including Tomahawks and SM-6 ballistic defense missiles.
On May 1, the Pentagon announced it would be withdrawing 5,000 troops from Germany over the next six to 12 months, citing a review of American forces in Europe. That also came amid diplomatic tensions between President Donald Trump’s administration and German leadership, after the country’s chancellor criticized the American and Israeli war with Iran.
Earlier this month, there had been speculation that the battalion wouldn’t head to Europe in the wake of the Pentagon’s drawdown announcement. The German defense ministry had pushed back, saying there was no “definitive cancellation” of the missile unit.
The 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment was formally stood up in October 2025, as part of the 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force. In its announcement of the new unit, the Army noted it was part of the Army Transformation Initiative and meant to boost long-range fire capabilities. During the activation ceremony, the battalion’s commander said that the soldiers “the first to set the tone, to define the culture and improve capability” and “will be the ones to turn a concept into a combat-ready force.”
Plans eventually called for the battalion to be stationed in Germany.
