Launcher questions haunt Ukraine's Tomahawk talk
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The USS Barry launches a Tomahawk missile from the Mediterranean Sea in 2011. Photo: U.S. Navy via Getty Images
Days of Tomahawks-for-Ukraine discourse at the highest levels publicly elided one topic, arguably the most critical: how they'd actually fire them.
Why it matters: A bullet is nothing without a gun. Likewise, a pallet of sophisticated missiles is a target — not a threat — without a way to let them loose.
- Kyiv's lack of readily available launchers likely further complicated the high-wire act of sharing weapons that would bring Moscow within range.
Driving the news: President Trump sent Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky home empty-handed on Friday, postponing any plans to supply Tomahawks and shifting his attention to diplomacy with Russia.
- While those developments grabbed the headlines, the launcher question lingered in the background.
What they're saying: "Yes, the launcher is a challenge, but it's not exactly a surprise and it's not exactly something that folks haven't been thinking about for a while now," Tom Karako, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told Axios.
- "The potential decision to transfer the missiles implies a decision to transfer the means to use them well."
Between the lines: Ukraine has been applauded for its frontline ingenuity — its ability to slap together weapons and repurpose Soviet stockpiles. Consider the Flamingo, which one outlet referred to as a "junkyard missile," and the broader category of FrankenSAM air defenses.
- In the case of Tomahawks, though, it "probably isn't something you do as a Frankenstein," Karako said.
Zoom in: The RTX-made Tomahawk, employed around the world thousands of times, is mostly launched at sea by surface ships and submarines. Ukraine lacks both.
- Ground launches are therefore the clearest path forward.
Behind the scenes: Ukrainian officials told Axios last week they were hoping to get their hands on Lockheed Martin's Typhon, which can fling SM-6 and Tomahawk missiles alike.
- Typhon was recently dispatched to the Philippines, Australia and Japan. The Ukrainians acknowledged to Axios that the system was in relatively short supply.
- Zelensky and his chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, held separate meetings with executives from Lockheed and RTX while in D.C.
- Yermak told Axios those get-togethers focused both on the systems Ukraine wants and on how to move up on the priority list for shipments if they do gain access.
The other side: A Lockheed spokesperson told Axios the company will "continue to support the U.S. government's response to the conflict in Ukraine and remain in close coordination with the Trump administration."
Zoom out: There are ground-launch options beyond Typhon. They include Oshkosh Defense's trailer-less Extreme Multi-Mission Autonomous Vehicle, which rolled out at last week's Association of the U.S. Army convention.
The intrigue: "I would not be surprised if we have other things in the warehouse that are not public for this sort of thing," Karako said.
The bottom line: Trump kicked the can down the road. But the debate over Tomahawks isn't over.
More from Axios:
In a shift, White House says no plan for Trump-Putin summit
Trump rejects Zelensky on Tomahawk missiles in "tough" meeting
Trump says he and Putin will hold second summit on Ukraine in Budapest
