Taurus Development
South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) said on December 14 that it deliberated and resolved a self-development plan on long-range air-to-ground guided missiles in a meeting of the Defense Project Implementation Committee presided over by Han Min-ku, South Korean minister of national defense at the headquarters of the Ministry of National Defense.
The DAPA is planning to develop the Taurus long-range air-to-ground guided missile by way of government research and development beginning in 2018, and to produce 200 units by 2031. Research and development will be conducted by the Agency for Defense Development (ADD). The national defense project will cost 810 billion won, including 300 billion won for searches and system development and 500 billion for mass production.
The developed long-range air-to-surface guided missile will be installed as a major weapon in the Korean-style fighter aircraft (KF-X) which will be completed in 2026.
The Taurus that Korea is planning to develop is a representative long-range air-to-ground guided missile produced by Taurus Systems, a joint venture of Germany's MBDA (67%) and Sweden's Saab Dynamics (33%). South Korea is now introducing the weapon and will install it within this year. The Taurus with an effective range of more than 500 km, is capable of hitting core facilities in Pyongyang, North Korea even if it is launched from an F-15K fighter flying over Daejeon, South Korea. A stealth shape and technology are applied to make the missile evade North Korea's radar networks. To top it off, the missile can withstand jamming thanks to the military GPS (satellite positioning system) of the US military. In particular, the missile has excellent penetrating ability to penetrate into underground bunkers using a double warhead system.