A non-unique rocket with an unpleasant flaw. Should Ukraine really bow down to Berlin :: Karyba :: www.technologijos.lt

Ukraine has long requested Germany’s Taurus missiles, but Berlin stubbornly refuses to hand them over. However, is it worth getting attached to these missiles and are they already so unique, commented military expert Oleksandr Kovalenko.

Taurus missiles are designed to destroy highly protected bunker-type objects at long distances. These missiles, depending on the modification, can hit targets at a distance of up to 500 kilometers and more, but the export versions – at a distance of no more than 300 kilometers.

The Taurus missile is a joint German-Swedish project, but is functionally identical to the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG, the same subsonic air-to-ground cruise missile with several different warhead modifications.

“In other words, The Taurus isn’t a unique Wunderwaffe that Olaf Scholz would have to bend for with the option to get Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG– the expert notes, but points out that Ukraine has reasons for insisting on obtaining these missiles – the number of weapons that can be obtained.

“The United Kingdom and France do not have an infinite supply of Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG and can transfer a limited amount to Ukraine. Taurus missiles are also not very numerous, but together with Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG, they would allow more systematic and massive strikes against Russian targetsKovalenko said.

However, he immediately draws attention to the extremely the unpleasant lack of Taurus missiles, which essentially reduces their advantages for Ukraine – a problem with their carriers.

As Kovalenko explains, Taurus was designed to be used by a limited number of carriers. Although the Storm Shadow/SCALP-EG missiles, with only minor modifications, were integrated into the Su-24 front-line bombers of Ukraine and many other weapons transferred by partners – AGM-88 HAARM, AASM-250 Hammer, JDAM ” and others, also installed on the MiG-29, Su-27, it is impossible to do this with the Taurus.

“For the Su-24 to be able to use the Taurus, it would have to be so heavily modernized that it would be almost a new modification of an old Soviet front-line bomber.” And it is not yet clear whether such modernization would be effective and high-quality”, the expert notes.

Without additional modernization, although not as fundamental as the Su-24, even the F-16 cannot become a Taurus carrier.

“Taurus” carriers could be the Swedish “Saab JAS 39 Gripen”, “Panavia Tornado”, “McDonnell Douglas F/A-18” and “Eurofighter Typhoon”, but none of these planes are planned to be handed over to Ukraine, Kovalenko emphasizes.

As Kovalenko writes, The F-16 has two very interesting weapons, the AGM-158 JASSM subsonic air-to-air cruise missile as well as the AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon.

AGM-158 JASSM is the same subsonic air-to-ground cruise missile, which, depending on the modification, can be used both against manpower or equipment, and against fortified objects, that is, its functions are similar to Storm Shadow/SCALP -EG” and “Taurus”.

The AGM-154 Joint Standoff Weapon is a guided aerial bomb with a base range of 130 km. However, the modification with a jet engine reaches a range of up to 500 km. The US military has more than 25 thousand units of such weapons.

Jif requested, the F-16 will be delivered with a weaponry that fully compensates for the Taurus both quantitatively and qualitatively, therefore, it is not necessary to hold on to these rockets, concludes the expert.