In mid-July 2025, Germany submitted an official Letter of Request for the Typhon missile system, also known as the “Strategic Mid-Range Fires System.” While the Letter of Request does not imply that a procurement decision has been finalised — the German parliament would still need to allocate funding in any case — it signals a strong interest on Germany’s part. This post examines the request and offers insights into how quickly a Typhon purchase could help close Germany’s capability gap in the deep strike segment.
Thanks for reading Missile Matters — with Fabian Hoffmann! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work. For about a year now, Germany has publicly emphasised its intention to acquire a deep precision-strike capability, capable of engaging targets far behind the frontline. Germany has been a founding member of the European Long-Range Strike Approach (ELSA) program, announced in July 2024, which seeks to develop a European ground-launched conventional missile system with a range between 1,000 km and 2,000 km.
Additionally, in October 2024, Germany and the United Kingdom signed the Trinity House Agreement, under which Germany committed to developing a new long-range strike capability with a range exceeding 2,000 km in partnership with the United Kingdom. This commitment was recently reaffirmed. Beyond aspirational programs and conceptual work, Germany’s actual missile procurement has remained limited, however, despite the demonstrated importance of missile systems in Ukraine and repeated affirmations by German officials of the value of systems like the Taurus KEPD 350.
In 2023, Germany likely ordered 75 AGM-158B JASSM-ER cruise missiles (1,000 km range), the maximum number it was authorised to buy, alongside its 35 F-35A Lightning II aircraft. In June 2025, Germany placed an order for an unspecified number of Joint Strike Missiles (500+ km range), valued at approximately $645 million. Assuming a per-unit cost of $3–3.5 million, this corresponds to roughly 180 to 215 missiles.At best, these acquisitions can be described as “homoeopathic” in scale. Moreover, the deep strike segment — if defined as a range significantly exceeding 1,000 kilometres — has remained unaddressed.
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