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Covenant to produce medium-range missiles near Leipzig from 2027
US defence contractor Covenant plans to start producing medium-range missiles near Leipzig in 2027, with potential output of up to 1,000 missiles annually.
Covenant’s planned production of up to 1,000 medium-range missiles annually near Leipzig marks a significant increase in Germany’s missile manufacturing capacity and aligns with its strategic military objectives.
Germany’s Ministry of Defence has confirmed it is seeking proposals to enhance its long-range missile capabilities through potential procurement from the US defence contractor Covenant.
US defence firm plans medium-range missile production near Leipzig

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US defence contractor Covenant plans to start producing medium-range missiles near Leipzig from 2027, according to sources, with up to 1,000 missiles a year thought to be possible.
The plans could bring a previously little-known cruise missile into greater focus in Germany. But what is actually known about the new weapon?
A reported range of more than 1,500 kilometres
The missiles are expected to have a range of more than 1,500 kilometres, Reuters reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
So far, however, few other technical details are known.
According to sources, the missiles are set to cost a few hundred thousand US dollars each, making them significantly cheaper than Tomahawks, which cost around $2 million per missile, depending on the version.
Covenant is also developing a cruise missile called “Anthem,” which is seen as the company’s flagship project. However, it has not yet been confirmed whether this is the system that is to be produced near Leipzig.
Germany looking to build deep strike capability
Covenant’s plans come as Germany addresses a growing need for long-range missiles that are relatively inexpensive and that can be produced in large numbers.
According to reports, Germany’s Ministry of Defence has already sent requests for proposals to Covenant as part of plans to build up its deep strike capability.
The company is said to be planning to establish supply chains and production lines in Europe.
Although Covenant is a US company, most of the components are expected to come from Germany and other European countries. For Germany, this could mean less reliance on weapons deliveries from the US.
Who is behind Covenant?
Covenant is a relatively new player in the arms industry. The company was founded in 2024 and is also active in Israel.
The firm is backed by US investor Michael Kaufman, who previously worked for the investment firm Thiel Capital. Its backers are also said to include prominent US technology investors such as Andreessen Horowitz and the Founders Fund.
It remains unclear whether Berlin actually intends to procure Covenant’s missiles and how far any talks with the company have progressed.
‘Cheer up, you caught the bad guy,’ says killer Virginia McCullough as she is arrested for murdering her parents
A woman who murdered her parents “in cold blood” before hiding them in makeshift tombs for four years told officers to “cheer up, you caught the bad guy” as she was arrested in her home.
Virginia McCullough, 36, poisoned her father John McCullough, 70, with prescription medication and fatally stabbed her mother Lois McCullough, 71, shortly afterwards in 2019.
She ran up large debts on credit cards in her parents’ names and after their deaths, she continued to spend their pensions until she was finally caught in 2023.
In body-worn video footage released by police, a handcuffed – and eerily calm – McCullough told officers: “I did know that this would kind of come eventually.
“It’s proper that I serve my punishment.”
She said she had slipped something into her father’s drink then put his body under a bed on the ground floor, and put her mother’s body in an upstairs wardrobe.
McCullough, having been arrested on suspicion of double murder, told an officer: “Cheer up, at least you’ve caught the bad guy.”
She added: “I know I don’t seem 100% evil.”
At the police station, she told officers where a kitchen knife was, which she described as a “murder weapon”, and a hammer which she said “will still have blood on it”.
McCullough, of Pump Hill, Chelmsford, Essex, was sentenced to life imprisonment on Friday with a minimum term of 36 years at Chelmsford Crown Court, after she admitted to their murders between 17 and 20 June 2019 at an earlier hearing at the same court.
Chelmsford Crown Court heard how she hid their bodies in makeshift tombs at the family home in Great Baddow in Essex, then told persistent lies to cover her tracks.
The court heard she cancelled family arrangements and frequently told doctors and relatives her parents were unwell, on holiday or away on lengthy trips.
But concerns over Mr and Mrs McCullough’s welfare were raised in September 2023 by a GP at their registered practice, and Essex County Council’s safeguarding team referred these to police.
The GP had not seen the couple for some time and said Mr McCullough had failed to collect medication and attend scheduled appointments. It was found McCullough had frequently cancelled appointments, using a range of excuses to explain her father’s absence.
Police said a missing persons investigation was initially launched and McCullough lied to officers, claiming her parents were travelling and would be returning in October.
It became a murder investigation, and when officers forced entry to the house in Pump Hill on September 15 2023, McCullough confessed that her parents’ bodies were in the house and that she had killed them.
Nicola Rice, a specialist prosecutor for the Crown Prosecution Service, said: “McCullough callously and viciously killed both of her parents before concealing their bodies in makeshift tombs within their home address.
“She spent the next four years manipulating and lying to family members, medical staff, financial institutions, and the police, spending her parents’ money and accruing large debts in their name.”
She added: “This was a truly disturbing case, which has left behind it a trail of devastation, and I can only hope that the sentence passed today will help those who loved and cared for Lois and John begin to heal.”
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Defense alliance NATO chief Mark Rutte has met US President-elect Donald Trump to discuss global security issues, according to a NATO spokesperson.
The meeting took place in Palm Beach, Florida.
During his first term as US president, 2017-2020, Trump pushed for European NATO countries to spend more on defense and described the alliance’s cost-sharing as unfair to the US.
Rutte took over as NATO chief from Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg in November.
Before taking office in January, Trump has nominated Pete Hegseth for the post of defense secretary, which has raised eyebrows among many allies.
Hegseth, 44, has served as an infantry captain in Iraq and Afghanistan, but has no senior military or government officer experience.
Multiple missiles were fired in an airstrike towards a densely populated part of Lebanon’s capital early on Saturday.
The huge airstrike targeted Beirut’s Basta neighbourhood, and no prior warnings were given by the Israeli military. The largely residential area was struck last month.
At least one violent explosion was heard across the city, Reuters witnesses said, and plumes of smoke could be seen. Scenes of massive destruction at the site were shared online, including a massive crater in the ground.
“Beirut, the capital, woke up to a horrific massacre, as the Israeli enemy’s air force completely destroyed an eight-story residential building with five missiles on Al-Mamoun Street in Basta,” the state-run National News Agency reported.
The health ministry put the initial death toll at four, with 23 wounded. The number is expected to climb in the coming hours as search and rescue efforts continue.
It came after a long day of Israeli airstrikes on Beirut’s southern suburbs, which have been non-stop since last week.
The cross-border fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group escalated into a full-blown war in mid-September.
Israel has bombed southern Lebanon, Beirut’s southern suburbs and the eastern Beqaa region, and has sent ground troops across the border. Hezbollah has continued to fire rockets deeper into Israel.
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