Germany is examining purchasing long-range missiles from Covenant Technologies, a mysterious Israeli manufacturer founded two years ago, to replace the American-made Tomahawk missiles, according to a Sunday report by Politico.
The report mentioned that the missiles were promised to Europe by the Biden administration in order to deter further Russian invasions against European countries, but US President Donald Trump recently decided to cancel the move.
As a response, Berlin decided to purchase Israeli-made missiles as a replacement, with two other Ukrainian companies also among the possible sellers of long-range missiles, according to the report.
Germany has been one of the main clients of Israeli defense products in the last couple of years, with the main deals going to Israel's "big three": Israel Aerospace Industries, Rafael, and Elbit.
Berline bought the Arrow missiles and Heron TP drones from IAI, the Spike missiles and the Trophy active protection system from Rafael, and it's on the way to a giant deal for rockets and launchers with Elbit.
What is Covenant Technologies?
Founded by its current CEO, the American-Israeli entrepreneur Michael Kaufman, the company operates in the defense-tech field, has a team composed of several dozen employees that work from its Tel Aviv offices, and focuses on solving the economic munitions problem.
They explained that the high prices of advanced missiles make it difficult to buy them in large quantities, have created shortages even for the US, and have created difficulties in rapidly producing new stock.
To that end, the company is trying to dramatically lower missile production costs by developing a cruise missile with performance comparable to the Tomahawk, at a cost of only several hundred thousand dollars rather than several million.
According to TheMarker, the company has raised more than $200 million from a long list of US funds and investors, and it is still operating in stealth mode.
Company in stealth mode
This means it is not yet known at what stage Covenant’s development is, and there is no information available about the production or testing facilities it owns.
The Germans are trying to buy a limited number of Tomahawks directly from the US, but the production line is currently full of Pentagon orders to replenish stocks after hundreds of such missiles were launched against Iran.
With Berlin aiming to receive cruise missiles as early as 2027, it might connect Covenant with one of Germany’s local defense industries to produce them there, something that Rafael and Elbit have already done.