- Sputnik International
Asia
Find top stories and features from Asia and the Pacific region. Keep updated on major political stories and analyses from Asia and the Pacific. All you want to know about China, Japan, North and South Korea, India and Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Oceania.

South Korea Buys 90 Taurus Bunker Busting Cruise Missiles

© Photo : MBDA SystemsEurofighter Typhoon Flight tests with Taurus KEPD 350 missile
Eurofighter Typhoon Flight tests with Taurus KEPD 350 missile - Sputnik International
Subscribe
South Korea has inked an agreement with European defense contractors to purchase 90 Taurus KEPD 350 long-range precision-guided cruise missiles. The weapons, estimated to carry a price tag of around $108 million, are to be used in their pre-emptive strike program as deterrence against a North Korean attack.

"The contract was signed in late February," South Korean Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) spokesperson Kang Hwan Seok told Yonhap Monday.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un inspects the intercontinental ballistic missile Hwasong-14 in this undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) in Pyongyang July 5, 2017. - Sputnik International
Asia
North Korea Marks Historic ICBM Launches With Monuments

South Korea already purchased 170 of the missiles in February 2013, but they weren't delivered until October 2016. The missiles were deployed on the South Korean Air Force's customized F-15K Slam Eagle fighter jets. They are a major component of South Korea's "Kill Chain" Korea Massive Punishment & Retaliation program, part of Seoul's deterrence strategy.

Here's how "Kill Chain" works: if South Korea believes that a North Korean attack is imminent, they will launch a series of surgical strikes against crucial parts of Pyongyang's political and military apparatuses, integrating information with strikes to form a "kill chain" — hence the name.

When tensions were sky-high on the Korean Peninsula in the summer of 2017, the South Korean military released a video of one of their F-15Ks destroying a target with a Taurus missile. "We made public the footage to show our resolve to destroy the leadership of the North Korean regime if it threatens the people of South Korea and the US with its nuclear weapons and missiles," a senior military officer told local media in July.

This 13 December, 2004 US Navy handout image shows the conventionally powered aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy (CV 67) as she returns to her homeport of Mayport, Florida - Sputnik International
US May Rein in Nuclear Subs, Carriers from War Games Near Korean Peninsula

The Taurus is a joint project between the German MBDA Deutschland GmbH and the Swedish Saab Bofors Dynamics. It is loaded with a 1,100 pound warhead that has penetrative capabilities, allowing it to take out bunkers — useful against North Korea, a mountainous nation with an infamous fondness for underground structures.

The Taurus has a range of about 300 miles, can be loaded into aircraft and includes stealth characteristics such as a low-terrain flight pattern, allowing it to fly under most types of radar. The missile has a top speed of Mach 0.9.

Germany and Spain field Taurus KEPD 350s and Sweden has also been considering a purchase. However, the variant South Korea has just bought is improved, equipped with an anti-spoofing module to prevent jamming.

A worker walks by rolls of steel products at Posco steel mill in Pohang, south of Seoul, South Korea, Friday, Dec. 5, 2003 - Sputnik International
South Korea Requests US to Be Excluded From US Metal Tariffs - Reports

Seoul is also upgrading their fighter fleet and may increase their order of 40 F-35A Lightning II stealth fighter jets to 60 in the near future. The Diplomat's Franz-Stefan Gady noted on Wednesday that South Korea remains deficient in its intelligence-gathering, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities.

Tensions have died down in the new year, with the two Koreas marching under one flag in the Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. They have also begun intra-Korean peace talks to defuse the missile crisis that has captured the world's attention since April 2017.

Newsfeed
0
To participate in the discussion
log in or register
loader
Chats
Заголовок открываемого материала