The Taurus KEPD 350 is a Swedish-German air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems and used by Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Taurus Systems GmbH is a partnership between MBDA Deutschland GmbH (formerly LFK) and Saab Bofors Dynamics.

Overview
The missile incorporates stealth technology and has an official range in excess of . It is powered by a turbofan engine at Mach 0.95 and can be carried by Panavia Tornado, Eurofighter Typhoon, Saab JAS 39 Gripen, McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet, and McDonnell Douglas F-15K Slam Eagle aircraft.

The dual stage  warhead, called MEPHISTO (multi-effect penetrator highly sophisticated and target optimised), features a precharge and initial penetrating charge to clear soil or enter "hard and deeply buried targets" (HDBT) such as hardened underground bunkers, then a variable delay fuze to control detonation of the main warhead. The missile weighs about  and has a maximum body diameter of . Intended targets are hardened bunkers; command, control, and communications facilities; airfield and port facilities;  ammunition storage facilities; ships in port or at sea; area target attack and bridges.

The missile also includes countermeasures as a self-defence mechanism and electronic countermeasures. 

Mission planners program the missile with the target, air defence locations and planned ground path, then the missile uses a low terrain-hugging flight path guided by inertial navigation system (INS), image based navigation (IBN), terrain referenced navigation (TRN), and Global Positioning System (GPS) to the proximity of the target, although it is capable of navigating over very long distances without GPS support. Once there the missile commences a bunt (climb) manoeuvre to an altitude intended to achieve the best probability of target acquisition and penetration. During the cruise flight a high resolution thermographic camera (infrared homing) can support the navigation by using IBN and is also used for GPS-free target attack. The missile attempts to match a camera image with the planned 3D target model (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator, DSMAC). If it cannot, it defaults to the other navigation systems, or, if there is a high risk of collateral damage, it will steer to a pre-designated crash point instead of risking an inaccurate attack with undesired consequences.

Taurus Systems GmbH has proposed an anti-ship variant.

Export
Spain's military bought 45 missiles. The integration of the missile in Spanish Air Force service was certified by the successful completion of a dedicated test campaign in South Africa carried out in May 2009.

South Korea planned to order 200 missiles to integrate with their F-15K Slam Eagles after being refused Lockheed Martin's AGM-158 JASSM by the United States. The Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) signed the deal in November 2013.  Taurus Systems will open an office in Seoul to handle various acquisition tasks and support technology-transfer and joint development of the next cruise missile.  The office was the company's first outside of Germany, and the KEPD 350 is the first European missile to be integrated onto a South Korean fighter aircraft. In October 2016, South Korea announced it would acquire a further 90 missiles, in addition to the 170 previously ordered, in response to North Korean nuclear and missile provocations. On 12 December 2016, the first 40 Taurus KEPD 350K missiles were delivered to the ROKAF, which began deployment for combat use on 22 December 2016.

In May 2023, the German Federal Ministry of Defence said that Ukraine had requested the missile, as part of Germany's package of support to Ukraine during the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. In interviews in June and July 2023, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius said that Germany would not supply Ukraine with long-range missiles. On August 8, 2023,  Ukrainian Member of Parliament Yehor Cherniev claimed that a consensus had been reached within the Bundestag  to allow export of the missile system to Ukraine.

Variants

KEPD 350K
Variant for the ROKAF, differs from the baseline model by being equipped with a Rockwell Collins GPS receiver with a Selective Availability Anti-Spoofing Module (SAASM) to prevent jamming.

KEPD 350K-2
In October 2015, Taurus Systems revealed it was developing a smaller version of the Taurus missile, called the 350K-2, for use on light fighters, particularly the South Korean FA-50 variant of the KAI T-50 Golden Eagle.  Range would be reduced to  and it would have a cruise speed of Mach 0.6–0.9.

In December 2016, South Korea's Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) revealed it plans to start development on its own indigenous long-range air-to-ground missile in 2018, based on the Taurus cruise missile.  The weapon will be mounted on the KAI KF-21 Boramae fighter, to be developed by the mid-2020s.

Operators

Current operators
  600 ordered for the German Air Force's Panavia Tornados at a cost of €570 million. Deliveries ended in December 2010.
  43 ordered for the Spanish Air Force's F/A-18 Hornets. Deliveries ended in August 2010. The program cost €60m.
  177 ordered in 2013, delivered in 2016-2017, 90 ordered in 2018, delivered in 2019-2020, and to be operated from the Republic of Korea Air Force's F-15K Slam Eagle fighter jets.

See also

Notes

References

External links

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Stealth cruise missiles
Cruise missiles of Germany
Post–Cold War weapons of Germany
Cruise missiles of Sweden
Military equipment introduced in the 2000s
 
Air-launched cruise missiles