Germany and the United States have finalised an agreement for Berlin to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles and station them on German soil, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced in the Bundestag on Thursday. The deal, sealed on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara, will see Germany acquire ground-launched missiles with a range of up to 2,550 kilometres, operated by German forces without US personnel. According to German government sources, a letter of intent signed by defence ministers on Tuesday commits Washington to granting the necessary export licence in August. The number of missiles and Typhon launchers is classified, and no delivery timeline has been disclosed, though officials do not expect a long delay.

Viewed from Washington, the sale aligns with President Donald Trump’s insistence that European allies invest in their own defence and purchase American equipment. It replaces a 2024 plan, agreed under former President Joe Biden, to deploy US-operated Tomahawks to Wiesbaden from 2026 — a deployment the Trump administration cancelled as it recalibrated its military footprint in Europe. From Berlin’s perspective, the acquisition addresses a vulnerability that military planners have long highlighted: Russian Iskander missiles stationed in the Kaliningrad exclave, roughly 500 kilometres from the German capital. Merz told lawmakers the missiles would “close a critical strategic gap” while stressing that NATO remains a transatlantic alliance, but that Europeans can no longer delegate their security to others.

Analysts in European capitals note that the Tomahawk’s range enables strikes deep into Russian territory, strengthening deterrence at a time when the alliance is reaffirming its collective defence commitments. The deal also reflects a broader shift: Germany and several European partners are simultaneously developing their own long-range precision-strike systems, with defence ministers in Ankara agreeing on a €50 billion investment programme, half of which Berlin will finance. Merz said the goal is to field European-made systems in the future, reducing dependence on US technology. The classified nature of the Tomahawk purchase and the absence of a delivery schedule leave operational details opaque, but the agreement signals that the immediate capability gap will be filled by American hardware.

The Ankara summit, which Merz said exceeded his expectations, also saw NATO members reaffirm Article 5 and pledge further aid to Ukraine, though the meeting was overshadowed by Trump’s verbal attacks on Spain and renewed claims on Greenland. The Tomahawk deal proceeded despite recent tensions between Merz and Trump over the US military campaign in Iran and a threatened withdrawal of American troops from Germany. The export licence is expected in August, after which delivery is anticipated without a lengthy wait. In parallel, the European development programme is moving forward, with the first indigenous systems not expected before the end of the decade.