Taurus KEPD-350:
Sweden has taken a key step in strengthening its air force’s long-range strike capabilities by selecting the Taurus KEPD-350 air-launched cruise missile for integration with its Gripen fighter jets.
- It is a modular, air-launched, long-range, precision-guided cruise missile.
- It is designed and produced by Taurus Systems GmbH, a joint venture between Germany’s MBDA Deutschland GmbH and Sweden’s Saab Bofors Dynamics.
- It can penetrate through dense air defence systems and destroy the hard and deeply buried stationary and semi-stationary military targets on ground.
- The missile entered operational service in 2005.
- The missile is used by air forces in Germany, Spain, and South Korea, among others.
- Measuring 5 meters in length and with a wingspan of 2.1 meters, the missile weighs approximately 1,400 kilograms.
- It has a range of more than 500 km.
- It is powered by a turbofan engine, which provides the missile with a cruise speed of about Mach 0.6 to 0.95 at very low altitudes.
- The missile is made of modular sections which can be configured based on the individual missions.
- Its electronic systems are also modular.
- It is suitable for day and night and all-weather deployment.
- Navigation of the missile is controlled through the Tri-Tec navigation system.
- It combines data from an inertial navigation system (INS), MIL-global positioning system (GPS), terrain reference navigation (TRN), and infrared seeker based image based navigation (IBN) sensors.
