12 billion euros for the German missile program: "To deter Putin"
Berlin is promoting a system of four types of missiles, including weapons that will reach a range of thousands of kilometers. In the plan: American cruise missiles, joint developments with the UK, and the purchase of Ukrainian missiles. The goal: to strengthen deterrence against Moscow and make the Bundeswehr the strongest army in Europe.
Germany plans to build a long-range missile system that will allow it to hit targets hundreds and even thousands of kilometers beyond the front line in order to deter Russia, the website Politico reported yesterday (Friday), based on internal documents from the German Ministry of Defense. According to the report, the cost of the move is estimated at nearly 12 billion euros, and the UK may be a partner in parts of it.
The plan consists of four different systems. The first and most immediate of these is a cheap cruise missile that Berlin seeks to make operational as early as 2027, and is described in the documents as a weapon that is required to be "cost-effective, and above all, mass-producible." This is a decision that is a direct result of the Ukrainian campaign against targets deep inside Russia, a war that has wreaked havoc on the Russian fuel industry, logistics, and military production.
Germany is in talks with two of the three candidates to supply the missile and hopes to receive models for testing as early as next year.
The most prominent of the candidates is the "Flamingo" cruise missile from the Ukrainian company Fire Point, which, according to its manufacturer, is capable of carrying a 1,150-kilogram warhead to a distance of more than 3,000 kilometers and has already been used by Ukraine in deep strikes inside Russian territory. A second candidate is the "Bars" missile, also Ukrainian, and the third is the "Anthem" missile from Covenant, an American-Israeli startup.
The second system is American. German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced to the Bundestag in early July that Berlin had reached an agreement with the US government at the NATO summit in Ankara to purchase Tomahawk cruise missiles and deploy them in Germany. "We are closing an important strategic gap in our defense," Merz said, adding that Germany would simultaneously develop its own European systems. The goal appearing in the documents is an initial capability of American Typhon launchers armed with Tomahawk missiles by the end of the decade.
The purchase is intended to provide Berlin with proven long-range weapons while European alternatives are still in development, but it comes against the backdrop of a global shortage of Tomahawk missiles following their large-scale use by the US in the war against Iran. Washington is currently prioritizing the replenishment of its own stocks, and its European allies are left far behind on the waiting list. All of these factors may make implementation difficult.
The last two systems are being developed together with the UK, as part of the "Trinity House" defense agreement between the countries. This involves an advanced cruise missile and a hypersonic glide weapon, and according to the documents, the goal is an initial capability by the middle of the next decade. Both governments have already announced in the past that the new weapon is intended to reach targets at a distance of more than 2,000 kilometers. This joint project constitutes the lion's share of the budget in the current German estimate.
The budget has not yet been approved, and the costs were submitted as part of the government budget planning process. The Ministry of Defense in Berlin refused to comment on the amounts or specific plans, and a spokesperson told Politico that the steps are generally subject to Bundestag approval.
The preparations are taking place against the backdrop of assessments by the top German military leadership that Russia may be capable of attacking NATO territory by the end of the decade, and Defense Minister Boris Pistorius has already stated that the country must be ready for war by 2029. Berlin seeks to ensure that if deterrence fails, Russian military infrastructure will not be protected solely by its distance from the front line.
This is another layer of the German military buildup, which also includes the conscription law approved by the Bundestag last December, which is based on voluntary service with the option to activate mandatory conscription, and the strengthening of the air defense system, including the deployment of an Israeli "Arrow 3" battery in the largest deal in the history of Israel's defense industry.
Merz has set a goal of making the Bundeswehr the strongest conventional army in Europe, but the road there is fraught with difficulties: the army currently has about 185,000 regular soldiers against a target of 260,000 by 2035, and volunteer recruitment is struggling to take off.
