The Spanish Ministry of Defence (MOD) and TAURUS Systems GmbH (TSG) signed a contract on 26th of September in Madrid for an upgrade and maintenance of the operational capability of the TAURUS KEPD 350 Weapon System used by the Spanish Air Force. The contract value is just below 30 million Euros (USD34 million).

Spanish Air Force EF-18A fighter jet carrying the Taurus KEPD 350 missile 
(Credit: MBDA Deutschland)

The TAURUS KEPD 350 has been in the inventory of the Spanish Air force for 10 years. It is today operated on the EF-18 fighter Aircraft. The advanced stand-off missile TAURUS KEPD 350 provides, with its very long range and a unique intelligent warhead, an important strategic and tactical advantage to the Spanish Armed forces. It is optimized for attacking deep buried bunkers, infrastructure and aerial targets even in anti-access and area denied environments.

As part of the contract the operational capability of the Spanish TAURUS will be updated by robustification and improvement of the navigation system. This will increase the survivability considerably beyond the original configuration. With the update, the Weapon System is prepared for highly defended modern scenarios and joint operations environments. The project will start immediately.

Produced by German-Swedish defense producer Taurus Systems GmbH, the missile has a range of 500 kilometers. The Taurus missile can fly at a low altitude without being detected from North Korea's radar as stealth technology is applied. The global positioning systems (GPS) also permits it to precisely hit targets despite the enemy's GPS-jamming move.