The German Taurus cruise missile has long been more a subject of political debate than a weapon, but recent positive developments may finally give these discussions more weight. The German Ministry of Defense plans to finally order the production of new cruise missiles.
Hartpunkt reports this with reference to its own sources. The order will be placed in the coming months. In response to an official request for confirmation, the German Ministry of Defense stated that it could only provide information on arms procurement plans after consultations with parliament.
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From Defense Express, we would like to point out two important aspects. Firstly, the fact that the Bundeswehr purchased Taurus missiles only once in the 2000s, ordering 600 units for €570 million. Since then, no new missiles have been produced for the German Air Force.
This factor is one, or perhaps the only, reason these cruise missiles were not transferred to Ukraine. Furthermore, the total number of these missiles has decreased since they were ordered. According to unofficial data, there are 479 units, of which 150 were combat-ready as of 2023. This has already been officially announced at the parliamentary level.
Currently, the Bundeswehr has ordered only a thorough inspection to extend the service life of its existing Taurus missiles until at least 2045. An allocation of €829.8 million is planned for this purpose.
At the same time, discussions about ordering new missiles have been ongoing in Germany for several years. However, due to a significant pause in production, the focus has shifted to an updated version, the Taurus Neo, as it is difficult to source the same components used 15–20 years ago, even some companies that manufactured them have transformed or ceased to exist.
The plan to order the Taurus Neo was formulated at the end of 2024 and envisaged the purchase of 600 missiles for €2.1 billion. Even then, Berlin warned that funding shortages would make it challenging.
However, the German government subsequently managed to lift the "debt brake" on defense spending and has adopted a course towards strengthening the Bundeswehr. A defense spending plan of €86.5 billion per year is currently awaiting approval and is set to rise to €153 billion over the next four years.
Berlin has finally secured money for weapons, including the new Taurus missiles. According to preliminary information from European corporation MBDA, which oversees the Taurus program, the first missiles will not be delivered until 2029, which brings us to the second key point — the timeframes.
Meanwhile, discussions on the potential transfer of Taurus missiles to Ukraine are finally showing signs of progress. However, its effectiveness depends on whether the Bundeswehr can transfer the required number of these missiles from its stockpiles and accept the resulting gap in defense capabilities until MBDA produces a replacement in the form of the Taurus Neo. Either way, the manufacturer could certainly benefit from speeding up the process.
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