Germany is buying American Tomahawk cruise missiles. Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced the purchase on Thursday, confirming a deal sealed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
The decision closes what Merz called a “critical strategic gap” in German defense. Germany’s existing Taurus cruise missile has a range of about 500 km (311 miles). The Tomahawk’s range is three to five times longer.
“We are closing a critical strategic gap in our defense, while simultaneously working to develop our own European systems and station them in Europe,” Merz told German lawmakers.
From US Deployment to German Ownership
The purchase marks a significant shift from the original plan. Under the previous US administration, Washington planned to deploy a US Army battalion equipped with long-range Tomahawks on German soil as an interim deterrent against Russia while Europe developed its own long-range weapons.
That plan collapsed in May 2026, when President Trump announced a reduction of US military presence in Germany and canceled the deployment. The fate of the Tomahawk supply to Germany had been uncertain since then.
The new arrangement replaces the US-deployed battalion with a German-owned capability. Berlin will buy the missiles and ground-based Typhon launchers directly. A letter of intent was signed on July 7, in which Washington committed to granting approval for the procurement by August.
The number of missiles and launchers is classified.
Buying American, Building European
Merz’s announcement has a dual-track structure that reflects Germany’s uneasy position. In the short term, Germany buys American. In the long term, it wants to build its own.
“We are working to develop our own European systems,” Merz said. The goal is to eventually station European-made long-range strike systems in Europe, reducing the continent’s dependence on US-supplied weapons.
The purchase aligns with Trump’s push for European allies to pay for their own security rather than relying on US forces stationed abroad. Buying American weapons is one way to satisfy that demand. But it also gives the US leverage over how those weapons are used, a concern that has grown as Trump’s reliability as a security partner has come into question.
The Capability Gap
Germany’s defense establishment has been wrestling with the long-range strike gap for months. In May, the German defense minister lamented that neither of the two planning scenarios, getting Typhon launchers through a US Army unit or through a direct purchase for the Bundeswehr, was working out.
The Tomahawk deal resolves that, but it also raises questions. The Taurus missile, Germany’s only indigenous cruise missile, was developed for a different era. Its range was designed for Cold War scenarios, not for striking deep into Russian territory from German soil. The Tomahawk gives Berlin options it did not have before.
What It Means for NATO
The deal was sealed at the NATO summit, where the alliance’s collective defense posture was the central topic. Germany acquiring long-range strike capability strengthens the European pillar of NATO at a time when the US commitment to the alliance is under strain.
But the fact that Germany had to buy American missiles to fill a gap that a US battalion was supposed to cover tells its own story. The original deployment was meant to be temporary, a bridge until European systems were ready. The bridge collapsed, and Germany had to buy its own ticket across.