BERLIN, July 9– Germany will purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles from the United States and deploy them on its soil, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Thursday.
In a statement at the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, Merz said the two countries’ governments had agreed on the deal at the NATO summit in Ankara, Türkiye.
Merz said the move would “close an important strategic gap” in Germany’s defense capabilities. Meanwhile, Germany would also work to develop its own European weapons systems and deploy them in Europe, he said.
Germany and the United States agreed in 2024 to temporarily deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles in Germany beginning in 2026.
The deployment plan was later scrapped in U.S. President Donald Trump’s second term, according to a DPA report. Berlin’s decision to purchase the missiles is now seen as an alternative to that plan, the report said. (Namibia Daily News / Xinhua)
