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BumRushDaShow

(174,189 posts)
Thu Jul 9, 2026, 01:05 PM 3 hrs ago

Germany to buy US Tomahawks in shift towards own long-range capability

Source: US News & World Report/Reuters

July 9, 2026, at 3:44 a.m.


BERLIN, July 9 (Reuters) - Germany will purchase ⁠Tomahawk ⁠cruise missiles from the United ⁠States and station them on German soil, Chancellor ​Friedrich Merz said on Thursday, in a shift from planned U.S. deployments to ‌Germany's own long-range strike capability.

Merz ‌told lawmakers he had sealed the deal with the U.S. ⁠government on ⁠the sidelines of a NATO summit in Ankara, adding that ​the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday had exceeded his expectations. "We are closing a critical strategic gap in our defence, while simultaneously working to develop our own ​European systems and station them in Europe," he said.

According to German ⁠government ⁠sources, Washington committed to granting ⁠approval in ​August for Germany to procure Tomahawk missiles and corresponding ground-based Typhon launchers ​in a letter of ⁠intent signed on Tuesday. The number of missiles and launchers Germany plans to acquire has not been disclosed as it is classified information.

The planned purchase appears to fit with U.S. President Donald Trump's push for ⁠European allies to pay for their own security, for example by buying ⁠U.S. weapons. The fate of the Tomahawk supply had been unclear after Trump announced in May that he would reduce U.S. military presence in Germany.

Read more: https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2026-07-09/germany-to-buy-us-tomahawks-in-shift-towards-own-long-range-capability

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Germany to buy US Tomahawks in shift towards own long-range capability (Original Post) BumRushDaShow 3 hrs ago OP
How will the US replenish their supply? I thought the defense industry was warning that it would take a long time ChicagoTeamster 3 hrs ago #1
Because TSF wanted mineral rights in Ukraine. wnylib 2 hrs ago #2
Good luck with that, Herrn Merz! jmowreader 1 hr ago #3

ChicagoTeamster

(1,566 posts)
1. How will the US replenish their supply? I thought the defense industry was warning that it would take a long time
Thu Jul 9, 2026, 01:12 PM
3 hrs ago

to replenish US stockpiles expended in Iran. Why couldn't we have sold some to Ukraine earlier then? Europe has been willing to pay.

wnylib

(26,984 posts)
2. Because TSF wanted mineral rights in Ukraine.
Thu Jul 9, 2026, 01:41 PM
2 hrs ago

And wants to keep Putin happy. So he held out on weapons to Ukraine to get something in return. Now Ukraine looks strong and Russia looks weak.

But, regarding a deal with Germany, the Germans should remember that Trump's word on anything is no better than the air that he shits his words into. They might get the weapons, but will they be functional? Will he use that deal to extort something from Germany? Will they ever be delivered?
How much is TSF's cut in the sale?

All pertinent questions in:"deals" with TSF.




jmowreader

(53,594 posts)
3. Good luck with that, Herrn Merz!
Thu Jul 9, 2026, 02:45 PM
1 hr ago

Because of the way a Tomahawk is made - Raytheon makes the airframe and fills it with hard-to-produce components they purchase from third-party vendors - it takes 18 to 24 months to make one of these missiles. (They have a very large factory in Tucson, AZ, so many of them can be made simultaneously, but from the "let's start work" order to the "hey Navy, come get your new missile" message it takes at least 18 months.) They can make 1000 per year at full capacity. Trump has fired at least one year's worth of Raytheon's best effort at Iran, and we were already facing a significant shortage of them before Trump slimed his way back into the White House.

Germany apparently believes 400 airframes is initial operating capacity for their Tomahawk fleet. I suspect they're going to discover how good Tomahawks are and want to put them on ships too, so they'll probably wind up needing 1000 to 2000 of them. But if we go by their current IOC and we consider that most of Raytheon's production will either wind up in a US Navy ammo bunker so there's something in there besides cobwebs or they'll go to one of the other four nations that use the Tomahawk, we're probably looking at five years for the Germans to get the first batch they ordered.

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