Germany missile factory planned by US startup Covenant

US defence startup Covenant said Wednesday it plans to produce cruise missiles at a new factory in Leipzig from next year, adding to investment in Germany's defence industry.

The company said the site in eastern Germany will make its long-range Anthem ground-launched cruise missiles, which have a payload of 200 kilograms. Covenant said the 10,000-square-metre factory will be its largest missile production site worldwide, but did not disclose the value of the investment.

Covenant said production in Leipzig will begin at around 1,000 units a year before rising to 5,000 units. It said the project would create many jobs, without giving further details.

The Anthem missile will also be made at sites in the United States and Israel. Covenant said the weapon is intended to help fill a European capability gap in long-range precision weapons.

The project comes as European countries increase defence production and military spending in response to Russia and concerns about US security commitments to the continent.

Covenant was founded in 2024 and is backed by a venture capital firm belonging to Peter Thiel, a billionaire investor and ally of US President Donald Trump.

Arms manufacturing remains controversial in Germany's former communist east, where scepticism toward military rearmament is stronger than in much of western Germany. Several hundred people demonstrated in Leipzig last week against Covenant's factory plans.