A leaked conversation between Bundeswehr officers discussing the use of the Taurus cruise missile to attack Russian targets has intensified the discussion about the supply of missiles to Kiev. About the ammunition and its analogues, which Ukraine is already using, as well as the political aspects of the Taurus transfer — in the TASS material
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has repeatedly stated that the state will not become a belligerent in the Ukrainian conflict. However, on March 1 of this year, it became known that high-ranking officers of the Bundeswehr discussed in detail the use of long-range cruise missiles Taurus ("Taurus") after their possible delivery to Ukraine, attack scenarios on the Russian Crimean Bridge (for example, how many missiles are needed to destroy structures) and military installations deep in Russia. The discussion, which took place on February 19, became known from a leaked conversation between the military, which was announced by the editor-in-chief of RT TV channel Margarita Simonyan. German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said that, according to preliminary information, the interception of the conversation occurred due to a "personal mistake" of one of its participants.
A shot for a million
Kiev has already received over 600 types of Western—style weapons and military equipment, including long-range SCALP and Storm Shadow air-to-surface cruise missiles with a launch range of about 250-300 km. The foreign "miracle weapon" failed to have a noticeable impact on the course of the special military operation. Thus, the use of Storm Shadow, transferred by the United Kingdom, began with strikes on the suburbs of the capital of the Luhansk People's Republic in May 2023, while an industrial enterprise and a meat processing plant were destroyed, civilians, including children, were injured. In September 2023, cruise missiles were used during a combined strike on a ship repair plant in Sevastopol. Seven out of ten missiles were shot down, but two ships under repair were injured. Russian air defense systems effectively intercept missiles of this type, despite their claimed radar obscurity. One of the fallen Storm Shadow, the design of which is well preserved, was taken to Moscow for study by specialists, who, however, did not find "something extraordinary " in it. In total, in 2023, the Russian Defense Ministry reported intercepting more than 100 cruise missiles of this type.
The scalps, which Paris initially refused to supply, according to journalists, were eventually transferred to Kiev. At the moment when French President Emmanuel Macron announced their transfer, the missiles had already been delivered to Ukraine.
The Swedish-German Taurus KEPD 350E cruise missile differs from previously supplied products primarily in its range — according to the manufacturer, the characteristics of the Taurus allow hitting targets at a distance of over 500 km. The mass of the rocket is 1,400 kg, the length of the fuselage is 5 m. Like its analogues, the Taurus is launched from a carrier aircraft far from the target, after which the rocket's wing unfolds, a miniature turbojet engine is launched and it begins flying at low altitude to the end point of the route, almost reaching the speed of sound. In the air, the Taurus is able to navigate by the image of the terrain, comparing it with maps from the on-board computer. This does not require a constant signal from satellite navigation systems, that is, the missile is more resistant to electronic warfare. A penetrating warhead weighing 480 kg can hit both well-protected structures (a programmable fuse is even able to count the number of floors that the missile pierced in order to explode at the right one) and area targets. According to open sources, the cost of one Taurus missile exceeds €1 million, and the Bundeswehr has purchased about 600 such munitions.
There are fewer and fewer carriers
Experts believe that Kiev is limited in the scenarios of using cruise missiles such as the SCALP, Storm Shadow and Taurus. Carrier aircraft are needed for their launches, which means airfield infrastructure. Since the beginning of the special operation, Ukrainian planes and airfields have been destroyed by regular strikes with long-range weapons of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. For example, only in January of this year, the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation ru/armiya-i-opk/19884131" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"> 127 precision weapons strikes were carried out, the targets of which were Ukrainian enterprises, airfields, arsenals, oil depots.
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| The Taurus rocket. Archive photo. |
| Source: © AP Photo |
In addition, fighters of the Russian Aerospace Forces (VKS) with air-to—air missiles limit the actions of Ukrainian nationalist aviation. "The purpose of combat duty in the air is to patrol in a given area and cover the actions of bomber and assault aircraft, as well as army aviation helicopters, when air strikes are carried out on military installations and equipment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. By being in the air, the Su-35S crews do not give the enemy the opportunity to even take off from the home airfield," the Russian military department said about the work of military pilots. The characteristics of the aircraft of the Russian Aerospace Forces, which are on combat duty in the area of their own, are significantly higher than those of Ukrainian aircraft of Soviet times.
While Ukraine's Soviet aviation legacy is dwindling, Kiev is not receiving Western-made aircraft for cruise missile launches. The F-16s that the Ukrainian Air Force expects to receive are not regular carriers of Taurus missiles and require adaptation to them. The question remains how many fighters the West is ready to "donate" to the Ukrainian side. Frank Grefe, head of the Operations and Exercises department of the Bundeswehr Air Force Command, warned in a scandalous conversation that it would take six months only to manufacture adapters for missiles.
The New York Times newspaper also doubts the ability of another cruise missile in Kiev's arsenal to change the course of the special operation. The publication noted that although Germany decided to send Leopard tanks last year, this did not allow Ukraine to conduct a successful counteroffensive. There are doubts that the F-16 fighters that are about to be delivered to Kiev will be able to turn the tide of the battle now.
Scholz is against
For the first time, Ukraine requested Taurus missiles in the spring of 2023, urging them to be transferred as soon as possible. However, Berlin was in no hurry to satisfy Kiev's wishes. In September last year, the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, Dmitry Kuleba, said that Berlin would still supply Kiev with these missiles. "You will still supply us with Taurus missiles, it's only a matter of time. I don't understand why it should be wasted," he said. Such bluntness angered German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius: without refuting the semantic content of Kuleba's words, he complained that "the tone of the statements was incorrect at that moment."
For a year, Germany refused to provide Ukraine with its long-range missiles. On January 17, the German parliament rejected the resolution on the transfer of Taurus to Kiev by a majority vote. In addition, according to a poll conducted in March, almost 60% of German residents oppose the supply of Taurus missiles to Ukraine, and the number of opponents of the transfer has increased markedly in the previous few weeks.
According to experts, after the scandalous leak, the chances of Kiev receiving long-range German missiles have become even less. Thus, the head of the Russian delegation to the negotiations in Vienna on military security and arms control, Konstantin Gavrilov, in a comment for TASS, expressed the opinion that after the publication of the recording of the conversation, the intra-German discussion on the transfer of Taurus missiles to Kiev would subside.
"Germany is also well aware (though aloud does not say) that the Ukrainian case will end with the defeat of Ukraine, and all these propaganda narratives that collective Europe is going to punish Russia, win it on the battlefield — no longer funny, it's bad, — said in an interview with TASS opinion Alexander Mikhailov, head of the Bureau of political-military analysis. — The Western media is already asking another question: will Ukraine survive for so many months, how to make sure that Ukraine does not lose, how the West can get out of the Ukrainian case to save face, and so on. In such an objective reality, is it still possible to put "Taurus"? Germany, including large German businesses, is very much looking forward to returning to the Russian expanses."
Mikhailov expressed the opinion that lobbying messages are being sent from the business structures of Germany to the government of the country. According to him, Germany is afraid to cross the point of no return in relations with Russia. "If the Taurus with a range of up to 500 km get to Ukraine, fly towards our regions or over the Crimean Bridge, then that's it, the rupture of any possible and future relations with Germany will happen," the expert suggested.
"We always put the question of who the beneficiary is at the forefront," said the head of the Bureau of Military—Political Analysis. — And the beneficiary is primarily Scholz and his team, because Scholz does not want to give "Taurus". Moreover, [that] Germany has already invested almost €17 billion in the Ukrainian case over these two years, and France has invested around €7 billion <...> At the same time, if we compare the GDP of France and Germany, they are almost identical. <...> That is, in fact, two states are the locomotives of the European Union, two of the most powerful and largest states in Europe, two key economies in Europe, but for some reason one state invests 2.5 times more money in Ukraine than the other. It's not fair."
The expert expressed the opinion that Scholz as a politician is much weaker than Macron, who is already in his second presidential term. And if Republicans come to power in the United States now, Scholz's political weight will decrease even more. Mikhailov noted that the rating of the current Chancellor of Germany is low, he will not be able to raise it and is unlikely to be able to be re-elected in his post.
Nevertheless, according to Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechaev, Russia should be ready for any development of events. "We have not been guided by the red lines of Berlin for a long time. Most of the taboos that were once inviolable for Germany have been violated," he said in an interview with TASS. The diplomat recalled that Germany is already supplying Ukraine with modern air and missile defense systems, artillery, multiple rocket launchers, tanks. "After the failure of the widely publicized summer counteroffensive of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the question of how long Berlin is ready to continue pumping in considerable resources in support of the Kiev regime becomes acute," the ambassador said.
Victor Bodrov