Germany mulls sending Ukraine Taurus long-range missiles- Reuters
The German government is in talks with arms manufacturer MBDA about the delivery of modified Taurus long-range cruise missiles to Ukraine, a move Kyiv asked for months ago, a source told Reuters news agency on Friday.
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Kyiv has been asking Berlin to provide Taurus missiles, with a range of more than 500 kilometres, Germany has long refused for fear that they could potentially be fired at Russian territory.
"Technically, it is very easy to limit the range of a Taurus cruise missile, according to experts," Reuters reports.
The negotiations between the German government and MBDA are focused on modifying the limited range as German chancellor Olaf Scholz wants to prevent any Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory with Western weapons at all costs, German newspaper Der Spiegel reported.
According to reports, the German military has about 600 Taurus missiles in service, with about 150 of them ready for use.
The Taurus KEPD 350/150 is a subsonic, long-range, air-to-surface tactical cruise missile for precision strikes and destruction of highly protected and buried targets without the missile carrier entering the enemy air defence zone.
The basic KEPD-350 model has a tandem concrete-piercing warhead weighing 481 kilograms and an explosive weight of about 50 kilograms. The weight of the vehicle is 1360 kilograms, while the empty weight is 1080 kilograms. The maximum range is at least 500 kilometres.
According to the German defence ministry, Kyiv requested Taurus cruise missiles back in April.
Ukraine has already received several long-range missiles, including UK’s Storm Shadow and France’s SCALP.
