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World Aviation Defense & Security News - South Korea
 
 
First batch of 40 Taurus KEPD 350K cruise missiles arrived in South Korea
 
South Korea took delivery of a first batch of about 40 Taurus KEPD 350K long-range air-to-surface cruise missiles, a military source said Monday December 12. According to the local newspaper Chosunilbo, the missiles were delivered to a port in Busan and taken to an air base in Daegu the following day.
     
First batch of 40 Taurus KEPD 350K cruise missiles arrived in South Korea 640 001Two Taurus KEPD 350 missiles fitted on a F-15SE Silent Eagle fighter jet
(Credit: Boeing Defense)
     
Some 170 Taurus missiles are already scheduled to be integrated with Republic of Korea Air Force's F-15K Slam Eagles fighter jets. In October 2016, the Korean military decided to acquire 90 more Taurus missiles to further beef up its anti-nuclear and anti-missile capabilities.

When the deployment is complete, the Air Force will be the first Asian country to operate fighter jets armed with the advanced German missile system with a 500-kilometer range, the official said.


Taurus missiles combined with GPS receivers and a flight termination system, or FTS, can automatically detect, trace and hit targets, even those that are behind concrete walls as thick as six meters.

A military GPS receiver is a radio processor capable of handling navigation equations in order to determine the user position, velocity and precise time by processing the signal broadcast by U.S. military GPS satellites. U.S. military GPS are not affected by North Korean jamming making them effective if employed against the reclusive country.

The Taurus is 5.1 meters long and weighs 1,400 kilograms. The system has a 480 kg warhead and can fly as low as 40 ms off the ground at a speed of Mach 0.95 that can allow it to evade enemy radar to deal with North Korean threats.