Airbus DS Begins Taurus KEPD 350 and Typhoon Flight Trials

Flights trials of the Taurus KEPD 350 stand-off cruise missile aboard the Eurofighter Typhoon combat aircraft began on 15 January, Airbus Defence & Space (formerly EADS) announced.

German Instrumented Production Aircraft 7 (IPA7) flew out of Manching Military Air Systems Center near Munich with two missiles mounted on its underwing pylons. The flight trials will explore issues of flutter and aerodynamics, and a large store interference assessment will be conducted.

According to Airbus DS, the Taurus flight trials will run concurrent with those of the MBDA Storm Shadow so as to optimise the two integration programmes.

Developed by MBDA and Saab under the Taurus Systems joint venture, the KEPD 350 missile is a 350 km+-class weapon designed for use against hardened and buried targets with its Multi-Effect Penetrator Highly Sophisticated and Target Optimised (MEPHISTO) penetrator warhead and intelligent fuzing system.

Germany has already fielded the KEPD 350 on its Panavia Tornado IDS strike aircraft and plans to do so on its Typhoons, while Spain ordered the KEPD 350 for its Boeing EF-18 Hornets and Typhoons. Sweden had originally intended to acquire the shorter-range (150 km+) KEPD 150 for its Saab JAS 39 Gripen C/D aircraft, but now hopes to integrate the more capable KEPD 350 instead.

With almost the same physical dimensions as the Storm Shadow (SCALP ER in French service) - 5.1 m in length, 63 cm wide, and 32 cm high (the Storm Shadow is 48 cm high) - the Taurus KEPD 350 is slightly heavier at 1,400 kg, compared with 1,300 kg for the Storm Shadow.

Both missiles are large weapon systems whose 'boxy' profiles subject the carrier aircraft to stress from crosswinds and induce a lot of drag. This is exacerbated by the fact that the missiles' size means they can be carried only on the Typhoon's two underwing pylons, which normally accommodate drop tanks. Eurofighter has developed conformal (or blister) tanks, which can be fitted to any Tranche 2 or 3 aircraft to help offset the range-limiting properties of the Taurus KEPD 350/Storm Shadow and Typhoon combination.

Integration work for both the Taurus KEPD 350 and Storm Shadow missiles should be complete by 2015. [via]