TAURUS KEPD 350 - MBDA

Press Information
June 2011
The TAURUS KEPD 350 weapon system is one of the most modern long range standoff
guided missile systems available, providing the TAURUS User Community with an
exceptional stand-off precision strike capability.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 missile is a highly advanced modular all-weather stand-off
weapon and is extremely effective against hardened high value point targets and can
also be used equally effectively against area targets.
The design of the TAURUS KEPD 350 missile will provide the user with an enhanced
strike capability against a broad target spectrum, ranging from bunkers and bridges to
runways and ships in port.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 has been designed to penetrate and take out dense airdefences
and neutralise high-value stationary and quasi-stationary targets.
The accuracy in combination with its exceptional stand-off capability ensures a highly
effective weapon delivery while minimising the threat to launch aircraft and crew.
The weapon system design was carried out with a strong involvement of end-users
leading to the achievement of a number of key parameters that contribute to the high
mission success rate, starting with the high accuracy by which the missile delivers the
warhead into the target.
The KEPD 350 missile uses “Tri-Tec” navigation, to ensure highly robust navigation
system with an inertial measurement unit as its core resulting in an exact delivery to the
target. The “Tri-Tec” array of sensors means that the TAURUS KEPD 350 weapon
system can utilize different combinations the following sensor inputs (user- or
automatically selected depending on scenario):
• GPS data,
• Terrain profile and
• Infrared image information
TAURUS KEPD 350
The accuracy of the missile’s guidance system on its extremely low-level (“nap-of-theearth”)
flight requires a highly agile and manoeuvrable missile. As a result, the
TAURUS KEPD 350 missile was given the most powerful turbo-fan engine of its class,
thus allowing for high cruise speed at low level, which combined with the guidance
system, allows for quick and agile manoeuvres ensuring that the missile stays precisely
on the planned flight path.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 missile structure has been designed around the highly
efficient dual stage warhead (MEPHISTO), providing a superior penetration capability
compared with other stand-off missile systems.
The MEPHISTO warhead contains an intelligent fuze, which is the only one of its kind.
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The programmable fuze allows the detonation of the penetrator to be pre-selected for
any floor, deep within the target structure. This is achieved through layer counting and
void sensing technology.
The survivability of the TAURUS KEPD 350 missile is based on low observability (LO)
and terrain masking; therefore, the TAURUS KEPD 350 missile offers excellent
manoeuvrability, enabling terrain following at very low altitudes.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 Mission Planning System optimizes the flight path taking the
entire threat scenario for a theatre into account.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 Mission Planning System will attempt to avoid the line-ofsight
of all radars; however, should this prove impossible due to the density of airdefence
systems, the LO-features, both missile integral and mission planning (low-level
flight) will be utilized.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 Mission Planning System will plan the missile trajectory in
such a way that the exposure to radars will be minimized in such a way that the missile
will present the lowest possible Radar Cross Section to the threat radars.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 missile architecture was conceived to reach a modular
design, allowing for easy realisation / incorporation of growth potentials to the missile
as well as simplifying maintenance efforts over the lifetime of the system, resulting in a
Low Life Cycle cost.
Example Key features of the TAURUS KEPD 350 weapon system are:
• range in excess of 500 km
• Multi-target capability covering a wide variety of global scenarios.
• High survivability, excellent detection avoidance through low observability (LO)
and terrain masking resulting in high mission success rates.
• Adaptability to different targets and operational scenarios.
• Highly robust navigation system with proven accuracy also when GPS is
unavailable.
• Unique lethality against hard and deeply buried targets (HDBT)
• Keeping collateral damage low
• High reliability, modular design leading to low Life Cycle Cost.
Programme status
The TAURUS KEPD 350 is deployed on the German Luftwaffe’s Tornado IDS.
TAURUS KEPD 350 is deployed on the EF-18 Hornet aircraft.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 is selected as the stand-off weapon for the NATO Reaction
Forces.
Spain and Germany are planning the integration of the TAURUS KEPD 350 for their
respective Eurofighter-fleets.
The TAURUS KEPD 350 missile can be integrated onto a variety of different carriers,
which has been shown on several occasions, including captive flights performed on
SAAB AB’s JAS 39 Gripen aircraft, confirming very good flight characteristics whilst
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carrying the TAURUS weapons.
TAURUS Systems GmbH is currently in discussions with a number of potential
customer nations.
History
The TAURUS KEPD 350 weapon system programme commenced in 1998 by pooling
the industrial capabilities in the field of precision stand-off guided missile systems of
MBDA Deutschland (LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme GmbH) with those of Saab Dynamics
AB. A joint venture company, TAURUS Systems GmbH (TSG), was established in
Schrobenhausen, Germany.
TAURUS Systems GmbH is responsibility for the development, production, marketing
and logistics support of the TAURUS KEPD 350 weapon system.
Internet : www.mbda-systems.com
www.taurus-systems.de
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