Taurus KEPD 350 System Verification completed
* The German customer’s system verification campaign successfully ends with free flights in South Africa
* Full effectiveness against bunker targets proven under operational conditions
* Safe missile separation from the aircraft demonstrated at high flight altitude/low speed and at low altitude/high speed
Unterschleißheim, 22 March 2004
With the final system verification campaign now finished at the Overberg test range in South Africa the Taurus KEPD 350 precision stand-off guided missile system has proven its full system capabilities under operational conditions. Taurus KEPD 350 provides outstanding air power to Tornado, Eurofighter, F/A 18, Gripen and other combat aircraft. Within the framework of the campaign the complete mission sequence from mission planning to high precision combat of a bunker target was successfully demonstrated. The missiles, the mission planning system and the ground equipment were identical to the series configuration.
The verification campaign was led by Wehrtechnische Dienststelle 61 (Test Centre) with the support of the German Air Force and TAURUS Systems GmbH (TSG). Apart from the two free flights several captive flights, with different flight profiles and terrain formations were successfully performed.
"We can be proud of our achievements. My thanks and my congratulations go to the whole Taurus team. By demonstrating the complete system performance under operational conditions, we have succeeded in completing the verification of the weapon system development," said Werner Kaltenegger, CEO of EADS/LFK.
For the free flights on 15 March and 18 March the flight paths and all other important mission data were generated with the world-wide unique Taurus KEPD 350 mission planning system and were transferred to the missiles with the Ground Loader Unit. Both missiles were safely released out of a twin configuration of the Tornado carrier aircraft; the first missile at a high flight altitude of approx. 25,000 feet and a speed of 0.67 Mach, the second one at a low flight altitude below 1,000 feet and a speed of 0.83 Mach.
While the first free flight was terminated due to a failure of an engine sensor signal before the missile had reached the target area, the second free flight missile hit and destroyed the target with extreme precision after a cruise flight over its entire operational range. This missile was intentionally released with a significant offset, some kilometres away from the nominal release point planned with the mission planning system.
"With the successful system verification campaign we have reached our ambitious aims and have completed the free flight campaigns of the development phase. This is in accordance with the assessment of our German customer," said Dr. Wolfgang Blaschke, Managing Director of TSG. "We are tremendously pleased with this successful verification campaign and wish to thank all our partners from the Wehrtechnische Dienststellen 61 and 91, the Luftwaffe, the Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) and the Overberg test range for their faithful co-operation."
In detail, the operational and functional superiority of the unique Tri-Tec navigation system was confirmed through this free flight campaign. Its outstanding navigation capabilities are attained by the fusion of sensor data from the IBN (Image Based Navigation), TRN (Terrain Reference Navigation) and MIL-GPS (Global Positioning System) subsystems. Taurus KEPD 350 is the world's only precision stand-off guided missile system that is capable of navigating over long distances without GPS support. For example during the second free flight, the missile navigated very precisively over a total distance of more than 100 kilometres exclusively based on the IBN and TRN subsystems.
Moreover, during the overall system verification the operational performance of the guidance and control and propulsion system were additionally demonstrated. These systems allow high-precision flight control at variable speeds and under heavy manoeuvres along the flight path predefined by mission planning.
Furthermore, the agility and stability of the missile flight mechanics were proven over a wide spectrum of flight profiles. The missiles performed speeds ranging from Mach 0.65 to 0.95 at flight altitudes between less than 100 feet and approx. 25,000 feet and under high lateral and vertical acceleration. They also carried out terrain-following flights at an extremely low level and high pop-up manoeuvres with variable apex heights.
Last but not least, the accuracy of hitting the target and the penetration effectiveness of the Mephisto warhead system were also impressively confirmed. Target detection, target identification and a highly precise final attack profile, the ignition of the pre-charge at the defined stand-off distance for perforation of soil and concrete, and follow-on penetration of a predefined number of different layers, followed by the ignition of the main-charge in the lower storey were successfully demonstrated.
The air-to-ground guided missile system Taurus KEPD 350 is planned as armament for the Tornado and later for the Eurofighter in its air-to-ground role. It allows among others the precise combating of high-value, stationary military point targets. The Luftwaffe is therefore able to combat heavily defended targets without exposing its aircraft and crews to enemy air defences (precision and stand-off capability).
Taurus KEPD 350 has had an extremely short development time, which began in 1998 and has resulted in a precision stand-off weapon system with unique capabilities. The development contract covered not only system design but also development, integration on the Tornado carrier aircraft and overall system verification of Taurus KEPD 350.
On 8 August 2002 the Federal Office for Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) awarded the contract to TAURUS Systems GmbH for production investment, series production of 600 missiles and the establishment of logistic supportability for the precision stand-off guided missile system Taurus KEPD 350. Delivery of the Taurus KEPD 350 missiles from series production to the German Luftwaffe will begin as scheduled in November 2004.
Taurus is also attracting great interest from export customers. Spain has a military requirement for a modern stand-off guided missile to arm its Eurofighters and also wants to use this on its F/A 18 aircraft. In the past, the Spanish Air Force has carried out successful captive flights of Taurus KEPD 350 on its F/A 18 aircraft and has spoken in favour of the missile. Sweden, Canada and Australia are also interested in the precision stand-off guided missile system.
TAURUS Systems GmbH, with registered offices in Schrobenhausen, is a joint venture between EADS/LFK-Lenkflugkörpersysteme (two thirds) and SAAB Bofors Dynamics (one third) set up for the development, production and global marketing of Taurus precision stand-off guided missile systems.
EADS/LFK is a business unit of EADS Defence and Security Systems. This division with a turnover of about € 5 bn in 2003 and roughly 24,000 employees in nine nations, forms the defence pole within EADS. It offers intelligent solutions for the new tasks confronting armed forces in the areas of military aircraft, missiles, reconnaissance and surveillance, defence electronics, sensor technology, command and communications systems, and services. In order to optimise the decision-making chain from sensor to weapon within a "System of Systems", EADS brings together state-of-the-art information and network technologies, coupled with the extensive systems competence of an experienced supplier of complex defence systems.
Your point of contact:
Wolfram Lautner
Tel.: +49 (0)89 3179-2549
Fax: +49 (0)89 3179-3871
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
