covenant cruise missile

Covenant profile

By Jonathan Teplitsky · reviewed against primary sources · updated September 14, 2026.

Covenant is a privately held United States and Israeli defense startup founded in 2024 that develops Anthem, a long-range cruise missile designed to carry a heavy payload from allied production lines.

What Covenant does

Covenant Designs and manufactures Anthem, a long-range cruise missile configured to deliver a heavy payload from ground-based launch positions. Operates an industrial footprint anchored by a primary facility in Grand Prairie, Texas, an operational plant in Israel, and an assembly facility currently under construction north of Leipzig, Germany, near Leipzig-Halle Airport. Covenant's declared business model centers on establishing distributed production inside allied nations, stating on its website that Anthem is built on local production lines so allied governments buy directly from an industrial base they can rely on. Covenant employs about 200 people and, at the time of the source article, was recruiting for 29 open positions, seven of them in Germany. Covenant claims Anthem is production-ready and reports running flight tests on a weekly cadence, following an initial test flight conducted at an undisclosed Covenant test range on June 30, 2026. Covenant has marketed Anthem directly to European defense planners seeking rapid additions to long-range strike arsenals. In Germany, the Bundeswehr has engaged in preliminary talks with Covenant regarding Anthem procurement, as Germany faces supply constraints across alternative systems: the domestic Taurus cruise missile replacement remains years away from operational fielding, United States allocations of Tomahawk cruise missiles are uncertain following heavy American expenditure during the American-Israeli war against Iran, and the pan-European long-range strike initiative known as ELSA is only beginning development. While Germany has positioned Lockheed Martin Typhon launchers at the core of its ground-based strike architecture, Covenant has not publicly confirmed launcher compatibility details, total venture capital raised, or investor identities. Covenant executives have targeted a serial production cost in the mid-six figures per unit according to previous Reuters reporting, compared with unit costs of $1 million or more for existing Taurus missiles. Sourcing reports present differing timelines for serial assembly: a Berlin lobbying firm representing Covenant stated German production will begin in the first quarter of 2027 with global deliveries starting as early as 2026, whereas Reuters previously reported German production beginning by the end of 2026 for an unnamed non-American buyer.

The product lines that define the company for research purposes:

Anthem long-range cruise missile

This profile is qualitative by design. It carries no share price, no price target, no valuation multiple, and no rating — those change faster than any page can honestly track, and the filings linked below are the authoritative source for them.

Covenant drone lineup

The current public product record does not identify a complete aircraft lineup.

No complete-aircraft offering is catalogued for this company; it is tracked here as an unmanned-systems enabler.

Statuses are editorial classifications from the company’s current public catalog: active means currently presented for sale, delivery, or program work; development means publicly disclosed but not a mature production offering; legacy means retained for historical or installed-fleet coverage.

Recent contracts & awards

A dated log of the specific contracts, orders, funding, and deployments reported for Covenant, each tied to its primary source. This is a record of what was announced — a "selection", "award", or "partnership" is not the same as obligated money, so read each source before treating a figure as revenue. No figure appears here unless a source reported it.

PendingSep 11, 2026
German military opens preliminary talks with Covenant over Anthem cruise missile procurement
On September 11, 2026, the German Federal Ministry of Defence confirmed ongoing discussions with Covenant concerning potential acquisition of the Anthem long-range cruise missile for the Bundeswehr. German officials declined to provide terms, delivery schedules, or integration frameworks, and the talks do not constitute a signed procurement contract or obligated budget allocation. Defense researchers must verify future budget authorizations from the German parliament before recording Anthem procurement as a funded Bundeswehr acquisition program.
Defense News: German military eyes cruise missiles from Covenant, a surprise vendor setting up shop

Where Covenant sits in the value chain

Covenant is a pure-play: unmanned systems are the business rather than one line inside it, so the P&L moves with drone demand and has little else to cushion a slow procurement year.

Its disclosed activity spans aerial drones, ground robotics. That placement is the single most useful thing to fix in your head before reading any coverage, because the same headline means different things at different layers: a large platform award is transformative for a pure-play, material but diluted for a diversified contractor, and only indirectly relevant to a component supplier whose exposure arrives later as build-rate demand. Retail coverage routinely applies one story to all three layers at once. For the layer-by-layer comparison across the sector, see the drone stocks research shortlist and the list of publicly traded drone companies.

What to watch

The signals worth tracking are structural, not price-based — they tell you whether the business is changing shape, which is what eventually shows up in the numbers.

Whether ongoing talks between the German defense ministry and Covenant advance into a formal procurement tender, funded demonstration contract, or programmatic commitment for the Bundeswehr.
Clarification from Covenant regarding Anthem launch mechanisms, specifically whether the missile integrates directly into Germany's planned Lockheed Martin Typhon mobile launchers or requires proprietary ground-launch hardware.
Reconciliation of operational schedules between Covenant's Berlin lobbying representatives, who project German serial assembly in the first quarter of 2027, and earlier Reuters reporting citing production by the end of 2026.
Regulatory approval and construction progress at the Leipzig-area facility, including how Covenant addresses regional political opposition in Saxony and manages final warhead and propellant integration outside the metalworking site.
Whether additional allied defense ministries in Europe open formal evaluations of Anthem to bridge strike inventory shortfalls alongside Germany.

How to research Covenant

Every question below has one authoritative source, and using the wrong source is how most retail research goes wrong.

Research question	Where the answer lives	What to look for
Is there anything to buy?	SEC EDGAR full-text search	Whether any registration statement exists at all — absent one, there is no public security.
Is the government work real?	Official DoD contract announcements	Awarding service and scope of work, rather than a company-issued announcement.
What is the acquisition pathway?	DIU and DARPA program pages	Whether the work runs through non-traditional agreements or a conventional program of record.
How would exposure even work?	Fund holdings disclosures	Whether any listed vehicle discloses a stake — indirect exposure is usually thin and unstated.

For the original investigative report disclosing German defense ministry negotiations with Covenant, read the Defense News coverage of Covenant's European expansion and the Anthem cruise missile.
To evaluate German ground-based strike launcher architecture, consult procurement records and specifications published by Lockheed Martin regarding the Typhon missile system.
Because Covenant is privately held, was founded in 2024, and operated in stealth mode for two years, Covenant has not published direct balance sheet data, equity capital figures, or formal contract awards; cross-reference production milestone dates against future German defense ministry budget committee releases.

One failure mode is worth naming explicitly: a company announcement describing a "selection", "award", or "partnership" is not the same as obligated money, and the two are easy to conflate because they use the same vocabulary. Check the official record before treating either as revenue. Our full approach is documented on the methodology page.

Covenant FAQ

What does Covenant do?

Covenant Designs and manufactures Anthem, a long-range cruise missile configured to deliver a heavy payload from ground-based launch positions.

Is Covenant publicly traded?

Covenant is not publicly traded, so there is no ticker to buy. Any claim otherwise should be verified against SEC EDGAR before it is believed.

What should investors watch with Covenant?

Whether ongoing talks between the German defense ministry and Covenant advance into a formal procurement tender, funded demonstration contract, or programmatic commitment for the Bundeswehr.

Where can I research Covenant directly?

Go to the primary sources: Defense News: German military eyes cruise missiles from Covenant, a surprise vendor setting up shop. Avoid aggregator summaries when the filing itself is available.

Is Covenant's Anthem missile already in service anywhere?

Anthem is not currently in operational military service with any armed force. Covenant conducted an initial flight test at an undisclosed company test range on June 30, 2026, and claims to conduct tests on a weekly basis, but Covenant has not announced any completed government acceptance trials or fielded inventory.

How does Covenant's per-unit pricing claim compare with existing European cruise missiles?

Reuters has previously reported that Covenant executives set an internal target price in the mid-six figures for each Anthem missile once serial production begins. By comparison, current-generation European systems such as the air-launched Taurus missile cost $1 million or more per unit. Covenant has not published fixed catalog pricing or binding contract rates to verify that target.

What would have to happen for the German talks to become a real program researchers can size?

The German defense ministry and the parliamentary budget committee would need to approve a formal procurement line item allocating funding for Anthem testing, system integration, or inventory purchases. Researchers should watch for parliamentary notifications detailing contract values, launcher integration commitments, and defined delivery schedules rather than preliminary ministerial discussions.