"They should be transferred immediately": Head of Bundestag Defense Committee calls for providing Ukraine with Taurus missiles

Germany has to provide Ukraine with long-range Taurus cruise missiles, and they should be shipped immediately. The Armed Forces also need much more ammunition and spare parts than they currently receive from their Western partners.

This opinion was expressed by the head of the Bundestag Defense Committee, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, in a commentary to t-online. According to her, if this is not done, the promise to support Ukraine "as long as necessary" will become an empty phrase.

"Ukraine needs more ammunition, more spare parts, and the Taurus should be delivered immediately to finally make it harder for Russia to supply," Strack-Zimmermann said.

She also drew attention to the fact that the "aircraft coalition" to supply Kyiv with F-16 fighters should gain real speed.

"Europe's much-hyped F-16 coalition must gain momentum much faster if we are to counter Russian air superiority. Putin is betting that we are afraid of our own courage. And he is obviously right. This hesitation is quite bitter," she said.

In addition, the Head of the Bundestag Defense Committee drew attention to the problem of repairing German tanks transferred to Ukraine, which, in her opinion, is too slow. According to her, in March 2023, Germany handed over 18 battle tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine, some of which were damaged in combat.

What is known about Taurus missiles

TAURUS KEPD 350/150 is a German-Swedish long-range air-to-surface cruise missile designed for precision strikes and destruction of highly protected and buried targets without the carrier aircraft entering the enemy air defense zone. It is a competitor to the Storm Shadow cruise missile.

The first Taurus test flight took place in 1999. The missile has a combined guidance system that allows it to fly long distances without GPS support.

On approach to the target, an infrared homing head is activated, which provides guidance to the missile in the final part of the flight. The missile is powered by a Williams International P8300-15 turbojet engine (thrust 6.67 kN).

Earlier, it was reported that on October 7, 2023, activists in Germany created a petition calling on the authorities to transfer long-range Taurus cruise missiles to the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Nevertheless, on November 16, 2023, the Bundestag failed to approve the decision to transfer long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine. The proposal of the largest opposition faction (conservatives) did not find majority support.

German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius noted that Germany has not yet made a positive decision on the transfer of Taurus to Ukraine as it "must carefully weigh each delivery of weapons."

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