Germany has agreed to purchase American Tomahawk cruise missiles and station them on German soil, Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced on Thursday, in the most significant expansion of Germany’s military capability in decades and a move that signals a fundamental shift in European defence posture following this week’s NATO summit in Ankara.
Merz announced in a speech to the German Bundestag on the state of current affairs following the NATO summit, which concluded in Ankara, Turkey on Tuesday. “We also agreed with the US government on the sidelines of the NATO meeting in Ankara that we would purchase US Tomahawk missiles and station them in Germany,” Merz said. “This will help us close an important strategic gap in our defence. And at the same time, we will work to develop our own European systems and station them in Europe,” he added.
READ ALSO: Russia Destroys 125 Ukrainian Drones Overnight
The Tomahawk is a long-range, subsonic cruise missile capable of striking targets more than 1,600 kilometres away with precision guidance. The US Navy and the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy are among its primary operators. Germany stationing such weapons on its territory would mark one of the most consequential steps in German rearmament since the country overhauled its defence policy following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Anadolu Agency, which reported the announcement from Istanbul, noted that the Tomahawk deal was agreed on the sidelines of the NATO summit, rather than as a formal summit outcome, suggesting the agreement was reached through bilateral US-Germany negotiations rather than through the full alliance framework.
The NATO summit in Ankara on July 7 and 8 brought together leaders from across the alliance against a backdrop of heightened tensions from the ongoing US-Iran conflict over the Strait of Hormuz, to the unresolved war in Ukraine and growing questions about NATO cohesion under the Trump administration.
READ ALSO: FG, EU Reaffirm Strategic Economic Partnership to Boost Investment, Trade
According to Anadolu Agency’s morning briefing, Russian President Vladimir Putin signalled through the Kremlin that he was “open to dialogue” with US President Donald Trump; a statement that came as the Ankara summit concluded. German Chancellor Merz also told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a separate phone call on Thursday that the US-Iran framework agreement signed last week was “the best chance” for stability in the Middle East, according to Anadolu Agency. The call reflects Berlin’s active diplomatic engagement on multiple fronts simultaneously as it also accelerates its own military build-up.
The Ankara summit also led to a broader European defence discussion, with alliance members debating NATO drone stockpiles and long-range weapons capacity in the event of a potential conflict with Russia, Business Insider reported. Anadolu Agency noted that as of July 7, the volume of natural gas in European storage facilities was 10.3 billion cubic metres lower than on the same date last year — a reminder that Europe’s energy security concerns remain acute alongside its military ones.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas also issued a presidential decree on Thursday setting November 28, 2026 as the date for Palestinian legislative elections. The first of such elections in nearly two decades, a development that adds another dimension to an already complex Middle East picture that dominated discussions on the sidelines in Ankara.
Germany’s acquisition of Tomahawk missiles is significant as a marker of how rapidly the global security landscape is shifting. As major Western powers accelerate military spending and rearmament, African nations including Nigeria risk being crowded out of international development financing, as donor priorities swing toward defence and geopolitical competition.
