German defence ministry discusses transfer of TAURUS aircraft cruise missiles with a launch range of more than 500 km to Ukraine

Last week, Ukraine officially requested TAURUS cruise missiles from Germany. German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius spoke about the prospects of supplying the long-range weapon.

Here's What We Know

Germany is discussing the possibility of transferring the TAURUS missiles to the Ukrainian Air Force, but the Defence Ministry has not yet made a final decision. According to Pistorius, the country is trying to be cautious about supplying long-range weapons.

TAURUS is essentially an analogue of the British Storm Shadow missile. Therefore, if received, the Ukrainian military should have no problem integrating it into Soviet aircraft. The Bundeswehr has over a hundred missiles in service.

The maximum launch range is over 500km. When it comes to Storm Shadow, Britain may have passed on an export version with a range of less than 300 km. But this information has not been confirmed.

The German Ministry of Defense ordered 600 TAURUS for the Luftwaffe in 2002. The cost of the contract was over $600 million. Based on these figures, it can be assumed that one missile costs around $1 million.

Source: Tagesspiegel