The German government may soon decide to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles.
Ukraine continues to ask its allies for long-range cruise missiles. The German edition of T-Online, citing its sources, reports that the German government may soon decide on the supply of Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.
The range of the missiles is up to 500 km.
Assist the counteroffensive
At first, the German government said that such supplies were not considered, but now this position may change, writes T-Online. According to him, more and more German politicians are calling for the Taurus to be given to Ukraine to help the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which is still relatively slow.
A few days ago, two representatives of the Social Democratic Party of Germany – Bundestag deputy Andreas Schwarz and SPD foreign policy spokesman Nils Schmid – supported the provision of Taurus missiles to Ukraine.
“The counteroffensive has stalled, Ukraine does not have enough air power to support it,” Schwartz told Spiegel magazine. “Therefore, the Ukrainian army can only overcome the mines laid by the Russians and take back their territory with the help of cruise missiles like Taurus.”
Schmid told the German newspaper Tagesspiegel that he did not rule out the provision of missiles in cooperation with the United States, however, he noted that only the Ukrainian military, and not Bundeswehr employees, should identify and program targets for them, because otherwise Berlin. would be “dangerously close to a direct involvement in the war.
German authorities have not yet confirmed T-Online’s data on the imminent provision of Taurus to Ukraine.
far to lose
The Bundeswehr is armed with more than 600 Taurus missiles, but only 150 of them are considered combat-ready, and the rest can be brought into combat-ready condition at factories.
The most important feature of Taurus is that this missile is similar to Storm Shadow and SCALP-EG, because all three of these missiles were developed as part of a joint project, and the manufacturer of all three is the MBDA corporation .
Accordingly, the performance characteristics of the German Taurus cruise missile appear to be identical to the previous two missiles already at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: launch weight – 1360 kg, including the warhead – 481 kg, fuselage length – 5.1 meters, fuselage width -1.08 meters. , launch range – about 500 km, flight speed – subsonic, up to Mach 0.95, that is, up to 1000 km / h.
A separate feature is specific to the warhead, as the MEPHISTO tandem concrete-piercing warhead is used here to destroy both fortified targets or infrastructure.
Including the USA
A decision on the supply of cruise missiles may be made soon, but for now Germany is consulting on it with Ukraine’s main ally, the United States.
T-Online’s sources reported that the provision of the Taurus to Kyiv may be related to a potential decision by Washington to provide the Ukrainian Armed Forces with its ATACMS missiles, which can be launched using Ukraine’s existing HIMARS installation.
Ukraine has been asking the United States for this for a long time, but the Joe Biden administration has so far refused to comply with this request – according to some reports, for fear of an escalation of the war and direct confrontation with Russia.
T-Online’s interlocutors in Germany’s ruling Social Democratic Party say that Chancellor Olaf Scholz will be able to decide on providing any new weapons to Ukraine only in consultation with key allies, especially the United States.
At the same time, according to sources in the ruling coalition, the German Air Force has already approved the possible delivery of Taurus to Ukraine, and last week the chancellor’s office asked the country’s defense ministry for basic data on these missiles : their number in the Bundeswehr, associated with them risks and efficiency.
Several T-Online sources noted that supporters of giving Kyiv Taurus missiles are recalling Kiev’s fulfilled promise not to strike Russian territory with British Storm Shadow missiles and French Scalp missiles.
Source: korrespondent
I am David Wyatt, a professional writer and journalist for Buna Times. I specialize in the world section of news coverage, where I bring to light stories and issues that affect us globally. As a graduate of Journalism, I have always had the passion to spread knowledge through writing.