Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced at the NATO summit in Ankara that Berlin has secured a deal to purchase American Tomahawk cruise missiles and their Typhon ground launchers. The agreement follows Washington’s decision to cancel a planned long‑range missile battalion in Germany and to pull 5,000 US troops from the country after Merz criticised the Iran war.

The Tomahawk missiles have a range of 1,600 km, giving Germany its first immediately available ground‑launched long‑range strike capability. Europe currently relies on British submarine‑launched Tomahawks and a French submarine cruise missile with a 1,000 km range. Berlin is also accelerating a European long‑range missile programme and evaluating Ukraine’s Flamingo system, while US production remains stretched by ongoing operations in Iran.

Merz said the purchase closes a significant strategic gap and praised NATO Secretary‑General Mark Rutte for a “superb” summit, declaring the alliance united and confident. The deal marks a thaw in US‑German relations after months of tension between Merz and Donald Trump.

The acquisition provides Germany an operational deterrent against Russian Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, but delivery dates remain unspecified and US capacity constraints could cause delays. The move is likely to spur faster European missile development and reshape NATO’s conventional strike posture.