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Production investment phase for Taurus KEPD 350 is on schedule

Le Bourget, 01 June 2003

The production investment phase for the German Air Force's 600 Taurus KEPD 350 precision standoff guided missile systems ordered under contract from TAURUS Systems GmbH is on schedule. The first milestones have been reached to the German customer's full satisfaction. In the meantime, negotiations with the sub-contractors have been concluded and manufacture of assemblies has been started on time. The trainer variants of the guided missile system will be delivered on schedule in the first half of 2004 and the first operational missiles will follow in the fourth quarter of 2004.

The modular precision standoff guided missile system Taurus KEPD 350 has been designed as a point target weapon for deployment from the Tornado and Eurofighter aircraft. Following the positive decision taken by the German Bundestag, on 8 August 2002 the Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB, Koblenz) awarded the contract to TAURUS Systems GmbH for production investment, series production and the establishment of logistic supportability for 600 missile systems.

The latest verification flight of the Taurus KEPD 350 precision standoff guided missile system, FV 1 (verification missile 1), took place on 21 November 2002 at the test range in Overberg/South Africa and was a complete success. For the first time, the missile used corresponded to the series configuration. This free flight campaign was the last of a total of five within the scope of the development work. After a record development phase of only four years, it provided both a verification of the required features and final validation of the simulation models.

The free flight was conducted by TAURUS Systems GmbH and led by the Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 61 (WTD 61) with the support of the German Air Force. The test campaign took place under operational conditions with regards to both target construction and flight path. Using the newly developed Taurus KEPD 350 mission planning station, the flight path and all other important mission data were calculated and transmitted to the missile. The missile was safely released in a twin configuration from the right shoulder station of the Tornado carrier aircraft at a flight altitude of 4,500 metres height and, after flying its full operational range, reached its target with extreme precision.

TAURUS Systems GmbH, with registered offices in Schrobenhausen, is a German-Swedish joint venture between EADS/LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme (2/3) and SAAB Bofors Dynamics (1/3). The company has been founded for the development, production and global marketing of TAURUS precision standoff guided missile systems.

Your point of contact:

Wolfram Lautner
Tel. +49 89 3179-2549
Fax +49 89 3179-3871