Pistorius and Hegseth Sign a Statement of Intent on US Arms Production in Germany — First German Tomahawk Reported for 2031, Not 2029
Washington, 15 September 2026
Key points
- Boris Pistorius and Pete Hegseth signed a statement of intent at the Pentagon on 15 September; the German defence ministry says it provides, among other things, that defence goods can be produced in Germany if US production capacity is insufficient because of high demand
- Welt, citing internal government documents held by Politico, reported the same day that the first German Tomahawks are now expected in 2031 at the earliest against a 2029 plan, the slip attributed to consumption in the Iran war and limited production capacity; neither ministry commented
- The same documents put US estimates for the Typhon launcher at roughly double the EUR 200 million Berlin had assumed, and recommend continuing with the purchase
- The ministry says the letter of request for the launchers, filed at the start of September, cleared a further hurdle in the foreign-military-sales procedure; Pistorius told reporters he had set out to the US side that the current timelines come too late for Germany, and that this was noted
Germany and the United States signed a statement of intent on 15 September on making American defence equipment in Germany where US capacity falls short, on the day internal German documents were reported to put the first Tomahawk delivery at 2031, two years behind the Bundeswehr's plan.
No published account of the text names a weapon, a company or a date. The ministry's release records that Pistorius and Hegseth also discussed the purchase of Typhon launchers and Tomahawk cruise missiles, which give the Bundeswehr its deep precision strike capability, and quotes the minister: "In parallel we continue to work on European solutions in the DPS field as well." Reuters reports that the details of the cooperation, and the planned Tomahawk purchase, "still needed to be worked out".
The 2031 date has one carrier, the documents reported by Welt and Politico, and no official on either side has confirmed it. They add that when Germany could receive the quantity it needs cannot currently be reliably assessed. The procedural record is thinner than the political one: a request lodged in July 2025, a letter of request for the launchers this month, and no export approval, notification to Congress or letter of offer on the record.
The production clause does nothing for the date, because what sets Germany's delivery year is its place in the foreign-military-sales queue, and that needs a signed letter of offer, not a licence. The 2029 plan was itself written in June, after the Pentagon cancelled the US Army's own Tomahawk rotation to Germany; 2031 therefore means no Tomahawk on German soil before then, American or German. Signal No. 147 sets out the queue; the consequence is that the European tracks Berlin listed in June are the only long-range strike that can arrive inside the window. What was the hedge is now the plan for 2029 to 2031, and the minister's line about parallel European solutions should be read that way. A delivery year in the first Tomahawk submission to the budget committee will show whether the ministry accepts that.
Related · Germany's Tomahawk purchase
- Merz Confirms Germany Will Buy and Station Tomahawk Cruise Missiles — Up to 400 Block Vb Reported, US Approval Committed for August
- Raytheon Wins a Seven-Year, USD 22.9 Billion Tomahawk Contract to Reach 1,000 a Year — Berlin Still Unapproved
- Berlin Plans a Four-Track Deep-Strike Mix — Typhon, Covenant Anthem, Flamingo, Bars — After the Tomahawk Halt
- Pentagon Set to Cancel the Tomahawk Deployment to Germany
