Taurus Systems, a subsidiary of Germany's LFK and Celsius of Sweden, has successfully completed the first flight of a mockup of its KEPD-150 kinetic energy penetrating weapon.
The mockup of the stand-off missile, a lighter, shorter-range version of the Taurus KEPD-350 ordered by the German air force, had its first captive flight test on 27 August. The missile was mounted on a Saab JAS39 Gripen at the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration (FMV) test centre in Linköping, aiming to test the missile's aerodynamic characteristics on an aircraft pylon.
The test was part of the definition phase of the KEPD-150 programme, funded by FMV. LFK says the missile could be operational with the Swedish air force within five years, although it has not yet been included in Swedish armed forces planning.
Like the KEPD-350, the KEPD-150 is scheduled to be equipped with the TDW Mephisto penetrating warhead.
Source: Flight International