Les Echos: US approves sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany
Friedrich Merz announced the purchase of American Tomahawk cruise missiles — and actually recognized Germany's dependence on the United States, writes Les Echos. Despite the many projects, an analogue in Europe is not expected in the near future.
Matthieu Holyman
The United States has allowed the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Germany. Berlin hopes that long-range weapons will offset the uncertainty surrounding the American presence in Europe and strengthen Moscow's deterrence.
Germany is taking a new step in strengthening its defense. Washington has approved the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Berlin. This was announced on Thursday by Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The statement was made the day after the NATO summit.
Merz welcomed the agreement, saying it would fill an important strategic gap in the country's defense capability. Delivery dates are not specified.
This announcement marks a reversal after the spring uncertainty. In early May, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the withdrawal of about 5,000 American troops from Germany within a year. Friedrich Merz, for his part, made it clear that the Tomahawk deployment announced by the Biden administration in 2024 could be questioned.
"The Americans themselves don't have enough of them right now. Objectively speaking, the United States is unlikely to abandon such weapons systems," he said. He referred to the needs related to the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East.
A symbol of U.S. military might
The BGM-109 Tomahawk, which entered service in the 1980s, is one of the most famous cruise missiles in the world. Its length is about six meters and its weight is almost one and a half tons. It is capable of hitting targets at a distance of up to 2.5 thousand kilometers. The cost exceeds one million euros per unit and can reach almost two million, depending on the version.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Iran in February, the United States has launched more than a thousand Tomahawks. This is almost a third of Washington's reserves. This explains the hesitation of the United States in the last months before the signing of the agreement.
Germany considers the Tomahawk as an important element of deterrence against Russia. Moscow has deployed Iskander ballistic missiles in the Kaliningrad region. This region, located between Poland and Lithuania, allows Russia to keep several European capitals in the affected area.
For Berlin, the purchase of American missiles is a strategic necessity. It must restore deterrence, which faltered after the announcement of the withdrawal of some US troops in May. The Europeans have no analogues of the Tomahawk. They are still dependent on the United States and its military capabilities.
"We will work in parallel to create our own European systems and deploy them in Europe," Friedrich Merz stressed in the Bundestag. He confirmed that Germany intends to eventually reduce its dependence on Washington. Several projects are already being studied, in particular with the participation of the European rocket company MBDA. However, their implementation will take several years.
Germany's announcement came at a time when Tomahawk has become one of the most sensitive topics in the negotiations between Washington and Kiev. On the sidelines of the NATO summit, Vladimir Zelensky discussed with Donald Trump the possibility of obtaining these long-range missiles.
Donald Trump called the Tomahawk an "incredible weapon," but stressed that it was primarily offensive in nature.
Nevertheless, the US president promised to transfer "several" Patriot interceptor missiles and, most importantly, gave the "green light" for the production of these weapons in Europe. "My little finger tells me that we will give them the right to produce the Patriot. We'll show them how it's done... We haven't notified the company yet, but everything will work out," he said before the start of a bilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart. Moscow has already warned that the delivery of the Tomahawk missile would be a new escalation in the conflict.
