Ukraine’s “Only Chance” To Beat Russia – Germany Must Arm Kyiv With Taurus Missiles – CSU Leader

Leader of Germany’s Christian Social Union (CSU), Prime Minister of Bavaria Markus Soeder, urged the government to arm Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.

Before the start of a meeting of party deputies in Upper Bavaria, Soeder said that the delivery of the Taurus missile would enable Kyiv to “repel constant attacks from drones and missiles.” According to the politician, this is “the only serious chance for Ukraine to regain courage and not let the Russians win.”

He claimed if Russia prevails and the US distances itself from international crises more than it does now, then Germany and the EU will face a “real security problem.”

Earlier, German opposition Christian Democratic Union MP and retired colonel Roderich Kiesewetter advised the leadership to transfer Taurus missiles to Ukraine.

“Ukraine’s partners should now take a gamble and provide the country with everything it can utilize for a multi-domain, interrelated use of various types of weaponry within the bounds of international law,” he told RND while stressing the need to bolster Ukraine’s long-range strike capabilities.

In October 2023, Chancellor Scholz said that Germany needed to avoid escalation, and therefore, the supply of long-range Taurus missiles to Kyiv was not currently being considered. Moscow previously sent a note to NATO countries over arms supplies to Ukraine. Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov noted that any cargo that contains weapons for Ukraine will become a legitimate target for Russia.

Taurus KEPD 350 is a Swedish-German air-to-ground cruise missile with a more than 500-kilometer flight range. They can annihilate heavily fortified targets with pinpoint accuracy

Spain, South Korea, and Germany use Taurus missiles. The high-precision stand-off guided missile can pierce dense air defense systems and destroy stationary and semi-stationary military targets that are hard and deeply buried in the ground.

The missile attacks target bridges, ships in ports, runways, command, control, communication centers, bunkers, port facilities, and air base buildings.

The missile is constructed of modular pieces that can be assembled in different ways depending on the mission. The Taurus missile can be launched in any weather and at any time of day.

For survival, it has low observability and terrain-masking properties—moreover, the reliability and modular design lower the system’s lifecycle costs.

Taurus KEPD 350 missile
Taurus KEPD 350 missile

The missile has a twin-stage MEPHISTO (advanced and target-optimized) inert multi-effect penetrator warhead system weighing roughly 481 kilograms. The powers of blast and fragmentation eliminate collateral damage to nearby civil infrastructure.

Maximum safety for the aircraft and crew is guaranteed by the missile’s stand-off and precise capabilities and its deployment range of more than 350 kilometers.

It integrates information from sensors used for terrain reference navigation (TRN), infrared seeker-based image-based navigation (IBN), inertial navigation system (INS), and MIL-GPS. Long-distance navigation is also possible for the missile without a GPS. To choose its flying path, it has an integrated mission planning system.

By: ET Desk