The Strategic Function of Long-Range Missiles

The return of conventional long-range missiles is reshaping the strategic balance below the nuclear threshold. After the collapse of the INF Treaty, a category of weapons largely excluded from European force planning since 1987 has re-entered the centre of deterrence, crisis management and defence-industrial policy.

The issue is no longer confined to range or platform type. It concerns the capacity to hold adversary logistics, air bases, command systems, missile launchers, industrial nodes and critical infrastructure at risk without immediately crossing into nuclear escalation.

This analysis answers: How is the post-INF return of conventional long-range strike reshaping deterrence below the nuclear threshold? What deep-precision-strike logics and residual legal architecture govern holding adversary logistics, bases and command systems at risk? How do production, stockpiles and the architectures of major and regional missile powers compare, with Ukraine as the deep-strike laboratory? What is Europe's industrial position (ELSA, Italy), and what are the strategic-stability and investment implications?