Germany has secured approval from the United States to purchase around 400 Tomahawk ground-launched cruise missiles (GLCMs) as a strategic deterrent against Russian aggression in Europe. The agreement was secured between German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of the latest NATO summit, held in Ankara on 7-8 July 2026.

Announcing the deal to Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, on 9 July, Merz stated that Berlin had “agreed with the American government that Tomahawk missiles would be purchased by us and stationed in Germany”, adding, “With this we are closing an important strategic gap in our defence. And at the same time we will work on developing our own European systems and deploying them in Europe.”

The Tomahawk agreement is something of a turnaround for German-US diplomatic relations. Berlin had previously sought to acquire Tomahawk GLCMs, but a recent political spat between Merz and US President Donald Trump over Merz’s refusal to allow Germany to be drawn into the US/Israeli war with Iran appeared to scupper it. On 27 April Merz told students in Marsberg that the United States was “being humiliated by the Iranian leadership” in its failure to negotiate an end to the conflict. In response, Trump had the Pentagon officially announce on 1 May that an upcoming deployment to Germany by the US Army’s 3rd Battalion, 12th Field Artillery Regiment, had been cancelled.

At the 2024 NATO Summit, prior to Trump assuming office for his second term in January 2025, the United States and Germany had agreed that 2026 would see US ground-launched medium-range missiles deployed in Germany that could reach targets in Russia. The systems deployed would have been the Tomahawk GLCM and Standard Missile 6 (SM-6), both launched from the Typhon Strategic Mid-range Fires System (SMRF), as well as the US Army’s Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon (LRHW), also known as Dark Eagle.

These systems would have been deployed to Germany as part of the US Army’s 2nd Multi-Domain Task Force, the core mission of which is to counter Russia’s anti-access/area-denial capabilities should any conflict break out, but the deployments were cancelled by an irate Trump after Merz, along with all other European NATO countries, refused to be drawn into the war with Iran.

Now, however, it is German-owned Tomahawk GLCMs that will act as a strategic counter to Russia from German soil, although it could be years before Berlin gets its missiles, as Tomahawk manufacturer RTX is currently struggling to replenish US Tomahawk stocks following the Iran conflict, let alone address any export orders.

The weapons that Germany will acquire are the latest Block Vb Tomahawks, which are launched from the Typhon SMRF, carry a multi-effects warhead that can hit more diverse land targets and have a range in excess of 1,660 km. As well as requesting around 400 of these, Germany will need to buy a number of Typhon launchers, with the cost of the overall package exceeding USD 1 billion (EUR 0.9 billion).

Meanwhile, NATO countries Germany, France, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom and Sweden are continuing to develop a European conventional, ground-launched missile system with a range of more than 2,000 km under the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA) project.

Currently, Germany’s longest-range strike weapon is the Taurus KEPD-350 air-launched cruise missile. Jointly developed by Germany and Sweden, the Taurus KEPD-350 entered service in 2006. It can be launched by the Luftwaffe’s Panavia Tornado IDS or Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft and has a range of more than 500 km.