Andrzej Jeziorski/MUNICH
Daimler-Benz Aerospace (Dasa) and its Swedish programme partner, Bofors, are planning to make their Taurus KEPD 350 Kinetic Energy Penetrating Destroyer the basis of a family of long-range missiles, including a ship-launched variant.
The basic 1,400kg, 5m-long KEPD 350 stand-off weapon is designed to be launched from a Panavia Tornado, Saab Viggen or Eurofighter EF2000. Dasa's guided-missiles division LFK-Lenkflugkürpersysteme is also studying the KEPD 150 (a lighter, shorter-range variant), the KEPD 350 A/P, which has an interchangeable ordnance section allowing it to attack either point or area targets and the ship-launched KEPD 150-SLM.
In its 6m-long container, the ship-launched variant would weigh 2,000kg. It would also be fitted with a 90kN (20,200lb)-thrust strap-on booster, which would burn for 4s at launch, before the missile's 5.8kN turbojet engine takes over.
The shipborne missile would have a dual-mode infra-red/radar seeker and could be used to attack "high-value targets at sea and on land" at ranges exceeding 150km (80nm), says LFK international business development director Reinald Rode. He says that the dual-mode seeker has been selected because shipboard defences have become geared to combat radar-guided anti-ship missiles.
Rode says that LFK is in talks with three potential international partners over integrating the existing KEPD 350 infra-red-imaging seeker - developed jointly by LFK and Bodenseewerk Gerütetechnik (BGT) - with an as-yet-unspecified radar seeker. The talks are with companies in France, Germany and Italy.
The 4.9m-long Taurus 350 A is also slightly lighter (1,090kg) than the KEPD 350. The heavier 350 P configuration (1,240kg) carries the standard Taurus kinetic-energy penetrator for attacks on point targets up to 300km away.
The 350 A configuration is designed for attacks on quasi-stationary area targets at maximum ranges of over 200km. This variant dispenses LFK-developed submunitions, including anti-tank mines, area-denial, anti-armour and fragmentation submunitions or runway-cratering bombs.
The 4.5m-long, 1,060kg KEPD 150 has been designed to be carried on lighter combat aircraft such as the Saab JAS39 Gripen, Lockheed Martin F-16 or AMX International AMX. It also carries the missile family's standard kinetic-energy penetrating warhead, and offers a range of about 150km.
The basic Taurus KEPD 350 has a range of about 350km, flying at Mach 0.9-0.95, and is to be powered by a 6.6kN turbojet. A powerplant selection has yet to be made, but Rode says that the prime candidate is the Williams P8300.
The KEPD 350 has undergone captive flight trials on the Panavia Tornado and the Saab Viggen, and the first free-flight trials are to take place this year.
Once a development contract has been signed, Dasa plans to spin the project off into a new company, also called Taurus. Two-thirds of the shares will be held by LFK and the remainder by Bofors.
The German defence ministry says that the Taurus forms the basis of its modular stand-off weapon requirement. The project's definition phase is to be completed this year, with a decision on whether to proceed with development expected by the year's end.
Source: Flight International
