When I was in the Army, the Luftwaffe had a Pershing battalion stationed in Holland, just across the German border, with an American ordance unit having physical custody of the warheads. The warheads were rigged with demolition charges that were to be used if there was any chance that the U.S. would lose control of warheads, unless, of cource, command channels released them. The idea was that the Russians would be a whole lot less likely to attack Germany with nuclear weapons in the event of war in Europe if the Germans had control of 36 Pershing launchers, and at least that many rounds.
Thanks for that, I’m sure the Luftwaffe would have been as efficient as the Germans are renowned for, had those Pershings received the order to launch... ;)
President Reagan decided to deploy 108 Pershing II MRBMs and 464 Gryphon cruise missiles to Europe in 1983. The deployment was completed by the end of 1986.
The Pershing II had a range of 955 nautical miles, accuracy of 50 meters CEP and carried a variable yield(5-80KT) W85 warhead.
The Gryphon had a range of 1,390 nautical miles, accuracy of 30 meters CEP and carried a variable yield(0.2-150KT) W84 warhead.
The Soviets felt threatened by the high accuracy of these missile systems which forced them to sign the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in December 1987.