Germany to buy US Tomahawk missiles after Merz strikes deal at Ankara NATO summit
Chancellor Friedrich Merz said Germany will acquire American Tomahawk cruise missiles, closing a strategic gap in its defence against Russia, after the US scrapped a deployment plan earlier this year.
The deal in Berlin
Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the agreement to the Bundestag on Thursday, just back from the NATO summit in Ankara. The deal had been reached on the sidelines of the gathering and, according to Merz, exceeded all his expectations.
We are closing a significant strategic gap in our defence, while simultaneously working to develop and deploy our own European systems.
The chancellor also praised NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte for his "excellent" handling of the summit, calling the alliance "united, strong and confident".
A deal rescued from the brink
The purchase revives a deterrence plan first announced under former US President Joe Biden, which would have seen US-owned Tomahawks, SM-6 rockets and hypersonic weapons deployed to Germany from 2026. That plan was scrapped by President Donald Trump in May, amid a public falling-out with Merz over the Iran war and the subsequent withdrawal of 5,000 US troops from the country.
Berlin had initially requested to buy the missiles a year ago, but the request went unanswered. Defence Minister Boris Pistorius even tried to fly to Washington for talks but had to cancel after failing to secure a meeting with Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth.
- Biden administration announces plan to deploy US Tomahawk, SM-6 and hypersonic weapons in Germany by 2026.
- Germany requests to purchase Tomahawks; the request goes unanswered for a year.
- Trump administration cancels the deployment plan and begins withdrawing 5,000 US troops from Germany.
- Merz announces at the Bundestag that a deal to buy Tomahawks was finalised during the Ankara NATO summit.
Filling a European capability gap
No European nation currently fields ground‑launched long‑range missiles. The Tomahawk, whose range is reported at between 1,500 and 2,500 km depending on the variant, is intended to counter Russia’s deployment of nuclear‑capable Iskander missiles in its Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, putting Berlin and other European capitals in range. The German defence ministry had flagged the Iskander threat in 2024, noting that Moscow has also sent Kinzhal hypersonic missiles to Kaliningrad.
Merz said Berlin will pursue European‑built alternatives in parallel, discussing Ukraine’s Flamingo cruise missile and a joint European “deep precision strike” programme initiated in 2024.
Production bottlenecks and open questions
The chancellor gave no timeline for deliveries. US stocks are strained: the military has fired hundreds of Tomahawks in the Iran conflict, and manufacturer Raytheon produced fewer than 100 missiles in 2025. The unit cost is about $1.7 million. Most US Tomahawks are designed for naval launch, with some adapted for the ground‑based Typhon battery, which also fires SM‑6 rockets. Earlier, Merz had noted that the US “doesn’t have enough of its own” and mentioned the possibility of co‑production under a German‑American joint venture.
