Covenant, a US-Israeli defense company founded in 2024 and based in Washington, said it will begin production of its long-range cruise missile Anthem near Leipzig in Germany next year for European customers. Chief executive Abigail Denburg said the company expects to make about 1,000 units in the first year and then raise annual output to 5,000. It also operates a plant in Dallas, Texas, to supply the US military.
Anthem can carry a 200 kg warhead and is described as a precision deep-strike weapon. The company did not comment on media reports that its range is 1,500 km. Covenant said the missile will cost a six-figure amount, less than 1 million, while comparable systems usually cost several million US dollars each.
Denburg said mass production is intended to make customers more resilient and to change deterrence calculations by allowing larger arsenals. She said a single strike is not necessarily enough to deter an adversary.
According to the German Press Agency, Covenant is in talks with Germany's Bundeswehr and procurement authority, though this has not been officially confirmed. Denburg said there is already a production contract for deliveries from Germany starting in the first quarter of 2027, without naming the customer. She said the European customer will decide when to make it public.
Covenant said it has raised more than $250 million, or €215 million, in three funding rounds. Investors include Founders Fund, co-founded by Peter Thiel, who is known for his libertarian and right-conservative positions, his proximity to US President Donald Trump and his criticism of liberal democracies. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) has previously expressed explicit concerns about Thiel. Public debate has focused on possible new dependencies and the risk of insufficient ammunition stocks in a crisis.
In Germany, Covenant said it has retired Lieutenant General Andreas Marlow as an advisor. He served until 2025 as deputy inspector general of the German Army and led the EU training mission for Ukrainian forces from 2022. Marlow was quoted as saying a European-produced long-range missile program is the missing piece in deterrence architecture.
Germany and European NATO allies are seeking and developing long-range weapons in response to the Russian threat. At the NATO summit in Ankara, Germany agreed with the US to buy Tomahawk cruise missiles. The German Navy completed a previously secret test of Israel's Lora ballistic missile system in early September. Germany already has MBDA's Taurus cruise missile but is far from mass production. European NATO states also lack their own medium-range weapons. Several allies intend, over the medium term, to acquire a deep precision strike system for high-value targets, a project launched in 2024 at the NATO summit in Washington as Elsa, the European Long-Range Strike Approach.
