Madrid picks LFK/Saab joint venture’s KEPD 350 for air force EF-18s and Eurofighters
Just weeks after its lengthy courtship with MBDA progressed to the signature of a bilateral agreement on its integration into Europe’s leading missile house, EADS’s LFK subsidiary has secured its first export sale of the Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile.
Spain’s parliament late last month approved the acquisition of an initial 43 missiles from LFK/Saab Bofors Dynamics joint venture Taurus Systems for integration on its air force Boeing EF-18A/B Hornet and Eurofighter strike aircraft. The deal, worth around €57 million ($70 million), should be signed within the next two or three months, says LFK.
The decision comes several years after Spain conducted captive carriage trials of the 350km (190nm)-range KEPD 350 weapon, for which production approval was secured last year with a German defence ministry order for 600 missiles. The selection represents a blow to MBDA, which had hoped to sell its combat-proven Storm Shadow/Scalp EG cruise missile to Madrid. MBDA has already established the Inmize missile joint venture in Spain with EADS Casa, Indra and Izar, largely on the back of the country’s partnership in its Meteor beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile project.
Subject to board and regulatory approval, LFK will be fully integrated into MBDA by late this year, placing the expanded company in the unenviable position of having to develop, promote and support two formerly rival cruise missile systems with significant product overlap. The company has already sold the 250km-capable Storm Shadow/Scalp EG to France, Greece, Italy and the UK and a Black Shaheen derivative to the United Arab Emirates.
Taurus Systems used last month’s Paris air show to showcase development plans for the KEPD 350, which include proposed variants suitable for launch from surface ships, ground vehicles and from the cargo hold of military transport aircraft, a version with a reduced range and warhead capability and a non-lethal derivative carrying a high-power microwave payload. The Taurus is, meanwhile, being promoted as a potential armament for the Swedish air force’s Saab JAS39 Gripens and Canada’s F-18A/B Hornets.
CRAIG HOYLE / LONDON
Source: Flight International
