Germany to buy Tomahawk missiles, building long-range strike capability

Germany has agreed to buy American Tomahawk cruise missiles and station them on German territory, closing “an important strategic gap” in the country’s defenses, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said. The deal was reached on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, where the United States committed to formal approval of the sale by August 2026. The exact number of missiles remains classified.

The purchase replaces the earlier plan for a temporary U.S. deployment of a battalion equipped with long-range Tomahawks in Germany. That arrangement had been decided in 2024 by Olaf Scholz and Joe Biden as a stopgap until comparable European weapons were ready, but it has now been scrapped. By putting the missiles on German soil rather than relying on a rotating American presence, Berlin is taking a more durable step toward its own long-range strike posture.

Germany’s Taurus cruise missile reaches about 500 kilometers, while the Tomahawk’s range is about 1,600 kilometers. Donald Trump has repeatedly pressed European allies to pay more for their own security and reduce dependence on U.S. basing and forward deployments.

In 2024, Germany joined the European Long-range Strike Approach, a cooperative effort to speed up missile development and strengthen NATO deterrence. European officials estimate such capabilities could still take seven to 10 years to field, leaving a gap that the Tomahawk purchase helps fill now. Germany also moved to expand its domestic missile base in December 2025, when Taurus Systems GmbH and the Bundeswehr procurement office, BAAINBw, signed a contract to prepare serial production of Taurus NEO, the next-generation version intended to strengthen Germany’s deep-strike capability.

At the 2026 Ankara summit, allied leaders said European allies and Canada had increased core defense investments by more than USD 139 billion since the 2025 Hague pledge to reach 5 percent of GDP by 2035.