Pentagon likely to cancel missile sale to Germany over fears of Russia
The Pentagon is expected to cancel a plan to send Tomahawk missiles to Germany partly because officials are concerned Russia will view it as an escalation, a startling reversal of a long-planned agreement with one of America’s biggest allies.
U.S. officials fear Moscow will retaliate if the Trump administration follows through on the effort to deploy precision missiles in the middle of the continent, according to two European officials and one American official. But any decision not to deliver them would yank back a deal made during the Biden administration and leave Berlin without defenses German leaders say they desperately need.
The move is part of a wider American retrenchment from the NATO alliance — including canceled deployments of thousands of U.S. troops to Germany and plans to pull back certain assets — as the U.S. upends the close-knit partnerships that cemented the relationship for generations.
Europe “can step up now and in the near term,” Gen. Alexus Grynkewich, NATO’s top commander and the head of U.S. forces in Europe, told military leaders this week. America, he said, will “refocus” equipment and forces elsewhere.
American officials, even if primarily fearful of Russia’s reaction, likely are also worried about the shrinking U.S. weapons stockpile. The U.S. churned through thousands of Tomahawk and Patriot missiles in the first weeks of the Iran war. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told Congress last month that it will take “months and years” to replace the munitions spent in the military conflict.
The likely Tomahawk reversal is particularly unsettling for German officials, who are rushing to modernize their atrophied force to serve as a bulwark against Russian aggression. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said last month that he did not expect the U.S. would station Tomahawk missiles in Germany due to limited availability of the cruise missiles, which can travel over 1,000 miles.
“The Americans don’t have enough for themselves right now,” he told German public television.
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“We submitted an official request to the Americans a year and a half ago to import — that is, to purchase — Tomahawk missiles,” German defense minister Boris Pistorius told German public television last month. “We are still awaiting a response. But to be honest, given the current state of the world, I don’t have much hope in that regard.”
Pistorius expressed interest in buying America’s Typhon ground-based missile system, which launches Tomahawks, on a Washington visit last July with Hegseth, according to the Germany defense ministry. But he has not received an update.
German officials have been exploring European alternatives to fill the long-range precision-strike gap. The debate in Berlin is less about any single weapons system than about how quickly Germany can acquire the ability to hold targets at a distance — whether through off-the-shelf purchases, expanded production with allies or longer-term European development.
Drones and cheaper systems may help, but German defense planners do not see them as a one-for-one replacement for Tomahawk-class missiles. German officials are worried more broadly that the U.S. pullback will force Europe to close military gaps faster than its defense industry can deliver.
