German parliament to revisit proposal to send Taurus missiles to Ukraine
Photo: AP
The German parliament will revisit a proposal to provide long-distance Taurus missiles to Ukraine. The Free Democratic Party will put the relevant initiative up for a vote.
The leader of the FDP faction, Christian Dürr, stated this, according to Tagesschau.
According to Dürr, the relevant proposal will be submitted to the Bundestag for consideration as early as next week.
"The US government is taking decisive measures to allow the use of ATACMS missiles. Germany should follow this example and supply Taurus to Ukraine," he noted.
In turn, the leader of the Free Democratic Party, Christian Lindner, whom Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently dismissed from the post of finance minister, also supported the supply of Taurus.
"The Chancellor has always opposed independent action. Now, he finds himself in isolation. The US and other countries are leading the way. Germany must follow them," Lindner noted.
It should be noted that on May 27, 2023, Ukraine officially requested Germany provide it with Taurus long-range cruise missiles.
In November, the manufacturing company MBDA, which owns Taurus Systems, stated that it was able to increase the production of Taurus missiles in the shortest possible time and integrate new technical achievements into them as needed.
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This aircraft subsonic cruise missile is designed for high-precision target destruction.
Taurus is the German analogue of the British Storm Shadow missiles, which Ukraine's armed forces have already successfully used. The Taurus cruise missile is launched from a fighter jet and can deliver a 400-kilogram warhead to a range of more than 500 kilometers. It is an effective weapon against protected targets, such as command bunkers or ammunition depots.
Germany ordered 600 Taurus missiles for its air force in the early 2000s. However, according to German media, the Bundeswehr currently has only 150 Taurus ready for combat.
Taurus cruise missiles, together with the Franco-British Storm Shadow, which Ukraine already uses, will allow strikes against Russian military infrastructure in occupied territory at long distances.
