The German government has received in-principle approval from the U.S. presidential administration to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that the agreement was reached during the NATO summit in Ankara.
The U.S. State Department has not yet publicly issued a formal sale approval for the missiles or for the Typhon ground-based launchers, despite Berlin having submitted the relevant request as far back as autumn 2025.
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Until a formal approval is published and ideally until a contract is signed, assuming its details are not classified — it is not possible to speak to the procurement volume or cost. Berlin's stated intent, however, is to acquire 400 Tomahawk Block Vb missiles and three launchers.
For the Bundeswehr, acquiring American cruise missiles is critically important. Currently, Germany's only long-range strike asset is a relatively modest inventory of Taurus missiles with a range of up to 500 km. The Tomahawk, with its 1,600 km range, would allow Germany's armed forces to strike Moscow from German territory — though such a strike would be unlikely to be particularly effective in practice. Planning a cruise missile flight path involves complex routing to avoid enemy air defense zones, which can consume up to 50% of the missile's effective range.
If the trailer-based Typhon launchers were moved to Polish territory when needed, the Bundeswehr would be able to plan cruise missile routes to Moscow with much greater confidence. Deploying German Tomahawks to Ukraine, meanwhile, would open up targets as far as the Volga region and beyond.
A key challenge for Germany in acquiring American cruise missiles is likely to be delivery timelines. The U.S. expended over 1,000 Tomahawks — representing 30% of its stockpile — during the 39-day operation against Iran earlier this year. Annual production in 2026 stands at just 207 units, though it is set to expand rapidly to 785 units the following year. Export orders for Australia, Japan, and the Netherlands — totalling around 800 Tomahawks — push Germany's position in the queue back further still.
It is precisely for this reason that Berlin raised the possibility of localising Tomahawk production at German defense industry facilities ahead of the Ankara summit. Whether the U.S. limits itself to a sale or also grants a manufacturing licence will therefore be a very telling indicator.
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