In a landmark announcement to German parliament Thursday, Chancellor Friedrich Merz confirmed that Berlin has finalized a bilateral agreement with Washington to acquire and deploy U.S.-manufactured Tomahawk long-range cruise missiles on German territory. The deal, reached behind the scenes during this week’s NATO summit hosted in Ankara, Turkey, fills a critical gap in Germany and Europe’s collective defense capabilities, Merz said, while adding that the country will continue parallel work to develop indigenous European long-range weapons systems for deployment across the continent.
The agreement, negotiated under the second Trump administration, represents a deepening of U.S. defense technology exports to key European allies. The shift in European security strategy comes nearly three years after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine upended decades of established defense posturing across the continent, pushing NATO members to accelerate military modernization and strengthen long-range deterrence capabilities.
In a related announcement from the NATO summit Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump confirmed that Washington will grant Ukraine a manufacturing license to produce its own Patriot air defense systems. The move marks a major breakthrough for Kyiv, which has repeatedly pushed to access Western air defense technology to fend off relentless Russian missile and drone strikes on its civilian and military infrastructure.
First introduced into U.S. military arsenals in the 1980s, the Tomahawk cruise missile remains a staple of American long-range strike capabilities. Though slower than many modern ballistic missile designs, Tomahawk’s low-altitude flight profile—roughly 30 meters (100 feet) above ground—makes it exceptionally difficult for enemy air defense systems to detect and intercept. It also boasts a maximum range of approximately 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) paired with precision guidance technology, making it ideal for striking high-value targets deep inside hostile or contested territory.