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Spain acquires Taurus KEPD 350

* Spanish Air Force to procure air-to-ground missile systems for F/A-18 and Eurofighter
* Spain is first export customer for Taurus

Munich, 19 November 2004

The Spanish Air Force is to equip its F/A-18 and Eurofighter aircraft with the Taurus KEPD 350 precision stand-off guided missile system. Spain confirmed this procurement intention during the German-Spanish summit talks held by federal chancellor Gerhard Schröder and prime minister José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero on 8 November.

"We are pleased to have won Spain as the first export customer for Taurus KEPD 350 and are proud to have earned the Spanish government's trust with this cost-effective and technologically convincing product. I should like to take this opportunity to thank in particular the German government, who have given us excellent support in this important project," said Tom Enders, Member of the Executive Committee of EADS and CEO of the Defence and Security Systems Division.

The decision to acquire Taurus KEPD 350 is of great significance for Spain also as far as industrial policy is concerned. The Spanish company SENER already produces the fin actuation systems for the German series. In addition, SENER will be prime contractor in Spain for integration on the F/A-18, acquisition of the missiles and the logistics.

The air-to-ground guided missile system Taurus KEPD 350 allows the precise combating of high-value, stationary military point targets. This enables air forces to combat heavily defended targets without exposing their aircraft and crews to enemy air defences (precision and standoff capability). Thanks to its unique performance parameters, Taurus KEPD 350 has also aroused great interest on the part of further export customers such as Sweden, Canada and Australia.

Taurus KEPD 350 has had an extremely short development time, which began in 1998 and has resulted in an ultra-modern precision standoff weapon system. On 8 August 2002, the Federal Office of Defence Technology and Procurement (BWB) awarded a contract to TAURUS Systems GmbH for production investment, series production and establishment of logistic supportability for Taurus KEPD 350. This order comprises the delivery of 600 systems to the German Air Force. Punctual delivery of the first Taurus KEPD 350 missiles from series production to the Luftwaffe will begin in November 2004.

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 standoff guided missile systems.

The Business Unit EADS/LFK develops and manufactures guided missile systems and is an integrated part of the EADS Defence and Security Systems Division (DS).

With revenues of approx. € 5.2 bn in 2003 and roughly 24,000 employees across nine nations, DS forms the defence pole within EADS. It offers integrated systems solutions to the new challenges confronting armed forces and homeland security units. It is active in the areas of military aircraft, missile systems, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) systems with manned and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), battlefield management systems, defence electronics, sensors and avionics, and related services.

EADS is a global leader in aerospace, defence and related services. In 2003, the Group generated revenues of € 30 billion and employed a workforce of more than 109,000.

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