German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told the Bundestag that Berlin agreed to buy U.S. Tomahawk cruise missiles and station them on German soil, with the deal sealed on the sidelines of the July 7-8 NATO summit in Ankara, Turkey, Reuters reported on July 9. Washington signed a letter of intent on July 7 committing to approve the sale of the missiles and their ground-based Typhon launchers in August, though quantities remain classified, and Merz gave no delivery timeline.

The previous Biden administration had initially agreed to the Tomahawk battalion deployment as a counter to Russia's stationing of nuclear-capable Iskander missiles in Kaliningrad, which put Berlin within striking range. The Trump administration, however, scrapped those plans and announced a 5,000-troop drawdown from Germany in May. Berlin had requested the Tomahawks and Typhon launchers roughly a year ago without receiving an answer, and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius at one point canceled a Washington trip after failing to secure a meeting with his U.S. counterpart. Europe currently fields no ready ground-launched long-range strike systems, as British and French cruise missiles are submarine-launched and have shorter ranges, and Germany's own Taurus reaches only about 500 kilometers (311 miles).