Germany has reached an agreement with the United States to acquire Tomahawk cruise missiles, a move Chancellor Friedrich Merz said would close a critical gap in the country's military capabilities. Merz announced the deal in a government statement to the Bundestag on Thursday, following negotiations on the sidelines of the NATO summit in Ankara.
The Tomahawk missiles carry a range of up to 2,500 kilometres, offering Germany a long-range precision strike capability it has lacked since the collapse of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty. The United States withdrew from the INF treaty in 2019 after accusing Russia of violating its terms with the 9M729 missile system.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius had earlier noted progress but no final results in the talks. A previous agreement to station Tomahawks in Germany, reached in 2024, was scrapped under then-President Donald Trump, making Thursday's announcement a significant reversal in transatlantic defence cooperation.