Ramstein US Air Force Base is a world unto itself. This large military base is located in western Germany, near the Ramstein-Miesenbach area, and has runways, hangars and many buildings. It is like a normal small town in the middle of the state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordered by the surrounding hilly landscape. And even though it’s on German soil, the air base is under immunity like an embassy – German state officials and politicians can only visit it with the approval of the US base commander.

The largest US airbase in Europe employs 9,000 people. Nearby is Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, the largest US military hospital outside the US. A total of 50,000 Americans – including their families – live in the greater Kaiserslautern area. There are even special schools, shops and services, where payments are often made in US dollars. And American facilities are of great importance to the region’s economy as a whole.

From World War II to today

It all started in 1952, at an airfield used by Hitler’s air force during World War II, which was taken over by the US Army shortly before the end of the war in 1945. Gradually, a complex was formed that became increasingly important, initially for the American troops in Germany and then for NATO. In 1953, the US decided to move the air force headquarters there, which until then was located in Wiesbaden.

Since 1971, the Military Aviation Administration has also been located in Ramstein. A few years later, a group for the command of NATO’s military aviation came to Ramstein. Both NATO’s missile air defense and NATO member states’ activities in space are overseen from there – even NASA sometimes uses the base for research flights.

It is also assumed – without any relevant official confirmation – that until 2005 there were also nuclear weapons at the military base. Today the Bichel base is the only place in Germany where US nuclear weapons are located.

The great importance of the base to the US

Ramstein Air Base is of enormous importance to the US armed forces, and that too on a global level. It is also the major hub for the transportation of US Air Force cargo and troops, particularly for missions in Africa, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe.

At the same time, the base is increasingly important for controlling the flights of American fighter drones worldwide. This is also the reason why it has been discussed several times in the past whether Germany is possibly somehow indirectly involved in the targeted killings of terror suspects in Asia and Africa. In 2013, the then American president Barack Obama had made it clear that Germany was not a “starting point” for drone attacks – but without succeeding in this way to appease the accusations of the media. During his presidency, Obama had reduced drone attacks to the most important tool in the so-called “global war on terror.”

The airbase had been in the headlines due to reports that the US was transporting terror suspects from there to various secret prisons.

Evacuation flights from Afghanistan

The base is also often used for evacuation flights. Rammstein also played a key role in evacuating people from Afghanistan in the summer of 2021, when the Taliban came to power. During that time the base turned into a huge tent city, temporarily housing people who had fled Afghanistan.

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, meetings of the states that support Ukraine have also taken place in Ramstein. US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has repeatedly invited representatives of dozens of states for talks on the delivery of arms to Ukraine. Now the group of states that militarily support Ukraine is also characterized as the “Ramstein group”.

The tragic events of the 1980s

During the 1980s, Ramstein Air Base was twice in the international spotlight. The first was in August 1981, when the base suffered a terrorist attack by the Rote-Armee-Fraktion (Red Army Faction, also known as the RAF), in which 20 people were injured. US military bases were repeatedly targeted by far-left terrorists during that time.

The second was in August 1988. During an air show, the planes of a squadron of the Italian air force collided – and one of them crashed into the spectators. 35 people were killed instantly, 35 later succumbed to their injuries, while hundreds more were injured. It was one of the worst air show disasters in history. Since then there has never been another air show at Ramstein.

Trump wanted to reduce the military in Germany

During his time in office, President Obama made several stops at Ramstein whenever he passed through the area. President Trump did the same in 2018, after returning from Iraq, where he had visited American troops.

Donald Trump was additionally the one who in 2020 announced a significant reduction of US troops in Germany. The reason: Germany was not paying enough for its defense. This decision naturally also concerned Rammstein. General Ben Hodges, former commander of US forces in Europe, had strongly criticized these plans at the time. Speaking to Spiegel, he spoke of a “colossal mistake”, adding that “the decision shows that the president has not understood how important the American troops in Germany are for the security of the United States”.

A few months later the decision was overturned with the assumption of the presidency by Joe Biden. Of course, if Trump returns to the White House, the American military presence in Germany may again be called into question – and with it the importance of the Ramstein air base.