South Korea's Air Force has shown live-fire training with a Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile, marking its first launch in seven years. The weapons was deployed from an F-15K Slam Eagle fighter aircraft, and the target simulated a heavily fortified command post. Decorated with a red star, it left little ambiguity about the intended reference.
These tests are particularly notable because the German-made Taurus cruise missiles are no longer in production, and South Korea has only acquired them in two orders: 177 units in 2013 and 90 more in 2018, for a total of 267. Thanks to the modern cameras filming this launch, we can have a clear view of several interesting details.
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Unfortunately, the footage does not show the mission programming process, which involves a special supercomputer. Instead, we can take note of the peculiar airfield equipment used by the Koreans to transport the missile.
The Taurus was mounted under the wing of the F-15K, which means the aircraft can take up to two Tauruses. But, once again, due to the limited stock of weapons, the South Korean Air Force opted to use only one for the exercise.
The missile carrier was escorted by two additional F-15Ks, which seemingly also accompanied the missile during the midcourse phase of its flight.
Notably, the F-15K had an inert bomb attached to the opposite wing, likely for balance, and carried a small Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation (ACMI) pod, which records all flight maneuvers and weapon usage.
Another noteworthy detail of the test was that part of the Taurus' flight took place at high altitude, despite the missile typically flying low to avoid air defenses. This could be explained by the fact that, in a real attack on North Korea, the primary threat may not come from aging surface-to-air missile systems, but from anti-aircraft artillery.
Though worth noting, the DPRK also claims it has the Pongae-5 (KN-06) air defense system, tested in 2017 and visually resembling the Soviet S-300. Yet, its operational status remains unconfirmed.
Alternatively, the high-altitude flight profile may have been chosen to test the missile’s maximum range, in which case Taurus only descends to the minimum altitude at the terminal phase of its flight.
Finally, the footage revealed the Taurus striking its target. The Koreans sacrificed several cameras to film this moment, but they got some really unique shots.
One of them was a slow-motion camera, so it managed to record how the Taurus pierced the surface before detonating its bunker-buster warhead deep inside the shelter target.
As a reminder, the main purpose of the Taurus, like the Storm Shadow / SCALP missile, is to neutralize fortified structures. Both use similar warheads, which consist of a leading shaped charge to breach the target’s defenses, followed by a high-explosive warhead that penetrates further, smashing through multiple layers — such as several bunker floors — before detonating inside.
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