The Taurus have become one of the most coveted weapons for Ukraine in the war unleashed by Russia. Also a headache for Germany. Its chancellor, Olaf Scholz, insists on his refusal to supply these air-to-ground cruise missiles to Ukraine, similar to those sent by the United Kingdom and France and which have allowed the invaded country to reach Russian targets far from the front line. . The pressure on Berlin is growing in parallel with the Ukrainian army’s need to replenish this type of weaponry, which is alarmingly scarce throughout Europe. “Germany is the only country that can deliver in the short term a considerable number of missile systems like these, absolutely essential for the Ukrainian army,” says Fabian Hoffmann, a researcher at the University of Oslo.
More or less, the Taurus, one of the most advanced weapons available to the Bundeswehr (the German army), are very similar to the British Storm Shadow and the Scalp, its French version. They are all long-range cruise missiles that are launched from fighter aircraft, have a similar size and mass and reach a speed close to that of sound. Even so, the Taurus, more modern than the Storm Shadow/Scalp, are more efficient once morest targets with reinforced security, such as bunkers or bridges.
Hoffmann estimates that Ukraine has received between 400 and 600 Storm Shadows and Scalps since the start of the war, supplied by France and the United Kingdom. According to his calculations, by the end of this year, or at the beginning of next year at the latest, kyiv will have used all the air-to-surface cruise missiles that its allies have delivered. The Norwegian expert, like other European analysts, considers it likely that Italy has also sent – without announcing it – part of the 200 Scalp that it acquired in 1999. The option of London and Paris sending more missiles of this type to Ukraine seems ruled out in the short term. term, since Hoffmann estimates that they have donated between 25% and 45% of what they had in their arsenals in these two years.
kyiv formally requested Berlin last May to deliver part of its Taurus, which have a unit cost of between 1.1 and 1.5 million euros. The German Government, which has exhibited its friction on this issue, rejected a few days ago London’s proposal that offered to send more Storm Shadow to Ukraine in exchange for Germany giving it some of its Taurus. Scholz has reiterated in recent weeks that he does not contemplate the possibility of supplying cruise missiles to Ukraine, alleging that it might imply a direct confrontation with Russia and that it would be necessary to deploy German troops on Ukrainian territory so that the allied army might use them. of this weaponry.
“The only reason why German soldiers would be needed on the ground to operate the Taurus is that the chancellor does not trust what Ukraine can do with them,” says Hoffmann, adding that the Ukrainian army might be trained to operate them. independently in three or four months. Lidia Gibadlo, researcher at the Center for Eastern Studies (OSW) in Warsaw, emphasizes that “Scholz will probably rely on the support of his party, and on the popular rejection of the sending of the Taurus that the polls reflect, to remain firm in his position”.
Jacek Tarocinski, Gibadlo’s colleague at the OSW, points out that the only current solution to alleviate the shortage of cruise missiles in Ukrainian arsenals is for “Germany to send part of its own and produce and acquire more as soon as possible.” The expert emphasizes the deficit of this type of weapons that exists throughout the continent and adds that the US State Department approved last Tuesday the sale of 821 Jassm missiles – the most similar to the Taurus that is produced on the other side of the Atlantic—to the Polish Air Force, a number greater than the 600 that the German Armed Forces have.
US missiles ruled out
The Polish researcher, specialized in missile systems, points out that the American Jassm are not an option for the Ukrainian army. Unlike the Taurus, which, like the Storm Shadow and the Scalp, might be integrated into the Russian-made Su-24 fighters still available to the Ukrainian Air Force, the Jassm can only be launched from the most advanced versions of the F -16, not even in the oldest aircraft of this model that the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway will donate to Ukraine in the coming months.
Besides Germany, Spain and South Korea are the only countries that have Taurus in their arsenals. The Spanish army only has around 40 of these missiles, so the number that it might contribute to the Ukrainian cause is too irrelevant to justify the training of the Ukrainian military and the integration of this weaponry into the Su-24. which Hoffmann estimates might be completed in less than six months. For its part, South Korean legislation prevents the sending of lethal weapons to conflict zones.
The delivery of Taurus to Kiev would not only alleviate for a few months the shortage of air-to-ground cruise missiles, a type of weapon that has been efficiently used to reach command posts and ammunition or gasoline depots, interrupt and alter essential routes for Russian logistics and eliminating senior officials of the enemy army, in addition to having destroyed several ships in the ports of Sevastopol and Feodosia, on the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea, illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014. German missiles would still be more effective than the French ones and British once morest targets such as bridges, since its Mephisto warhead is equipped with a smart fuze that allows detonation to be delayed until it has penetrated the attacked structure.
The analysts consulted agree that the Taurus are the ideal weapon to attack the bridge over the Kerch Strait, which connects Crimea with Russia and which kyiv considers a priority objective since the start of the war. Last week, Moscow leaked conversations from the German army in which there was speculation that kyiv would use the Taurus to attack this critical infrastructure for Russian logistics. One of the German soldiers stressed in the leaked conversation that, unlike the Storm Shadow and the Scalp, the Taurus “might penetrate the structure.” Furthermore, German missiles would be even more difficult for Russian air defenses to intercept than French and British ones.
Neither the Taurus nor the Storm Shadow have been produced for years. In the case of the Scalp, France is producing between 50 and a hundred ordered by Greece, which Hoffman claims that Paris should deliver to kyiv and compensate Athens in some way. The Norwegian researcher emphasizes that neither the shipment of some German Taurus, nor the Scalp that Greece is waiting for, would solve the issue in the long term. “The only way to not face this problem recurrently would be to facilitate the Ukrainian arms industry to manufacture this type of missile, while restarting production in Europe to be able to continue supplying them continuously,” says Hoffmann.
While Ukraine desperately seeks an ally to deliver long-range cruise missiles, Russia continues to use this type of weaponry to hit energy infrastructure and cities far from the front. A recent report by the British analysis house Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) estimates the monthly production of air-to-ground missiles in the Eurasian giant at around one hundred, and Tarocinski highlights that the Russian army has launched more than 500 of them. these in one month, more than Ukraine in the two years of war.
Follow all the international information on Facebook y Xor our weekly newsletter.
to continue reading
_
