Taurus seeks joint development of a new generation cruise missile with South Korea.
The German-Swedish partnership defense company Taurus Sytems GmbH stated it sought to jointly develop a smaller, longer-range air-based cruise missile that South Korea can utilize in warplanes, especially the new generation KF-X.
“We are developing Taurus K-2, which is smaller but has the same or even more performance of the current missile,” President of Taurus Systems Korea Co., Christoffer Drevstad said in an interview with Yonhap News Agency on Thursday.
The current version of the air-to-ground precision-guided missile is the Taurus KEPD 350K with a flight range of 500 kilometers. South Korea has purchased approximately 260 of these missiles for use in most F-15K warplanes.
The missile could be used to destroy radar stations and other important facilities in North Korea.
Drevstad said that the target range of the new missile would be more than 600 km and is suitable for lighter jets, including KF-X and FA-50 light combat aircraft.
“We intend to develop and produce this missile in Korea with a Korean partner. Currently, we are looking around to find a partner,” he said, adding that the company presented proposals to Korean firms a month ago and is waiting for the results.
Drevstad said that South Korea could eventually successfully develop its own missile, but it could take more than 15 years as it had not developed such a missile before, and with a Korean partner they could develop within 3 years.
