Defense politicians from both the SPD and the CDU/CSU have placed significant pressure on Defense Minister Boris Pistorius to find a rapid replacement for the canceled delivery of US Tomahawk missiles to Germany.
Sitemap the concern is that the supposed stationing of American Tomahawk cruise missiles-which were intended to bolster conventional European deterrence against Russian threats-has been canceled following reports that US President Donald Trump withdrew a commitment made by the Biden administration for 2024. Experts are now warning of a resulting “deterrence gap”.
Speaking on the matter, SPD parliamentary group deputy chairwoman Siemtje Möller emphasized that since the missiles were initially viewed as a temporary measure until Europe developed its own modern, long-range precision weaponry, the industry must now accelerate its efforts. Möller stressed that Germany and other European nations possess immense technological expertise and strong industrial capabilities in this area. She called for the partners involved in the ELSA project to quickly meet and develop strategies to significantly speed up the development, production, and procurement processes. Furthermore, Möller advocated investigating targeted cooperation with Ukraine, which has developed its own ground-based medium-range capability using the Fp-5 Flamingo cruise missile.
Adding to the pressure, the CDU/CSU’s defense policy spokesman, Thomas Erndl, criticized the overall pace of the Bundeswehr’s capability improvements, stating that the progress is still too slow. As an example, he cited the domain of deep precision striking. Erndl demanded that Pistorius present a concrete “Action Plan for 2029” detailing how Germany plans to become “deterrent” in a timely manner. For the issue of cruise missiles, he suggested that alongside multinational efforts, Germany should also consider innovative solutions from private German companies.
