The Air Force’s TAURUS long-range air-to-ground missile, considered the centerpiece of the kill chain to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, has been reported to be on fire live since 2017.
It is important to study the critical components when hitting targets inside North Korea in the event of an emergency through live fire training, but this is a point where it is stated that the Air Force ignoring this.
An Air Force Taurus long-range air-to-ground missile drops a virtual target positioned on the ground. Segae Ilbo file photo
According to data submitted by the Air Force to Representative Kang Dae-sik of the People’s Power Party, a member of the National Defense Committee of the National Assembly, on the 10th, a Taurus missile was mounted on a fighter jet F -15K Air Force fired one missile in 2017 as the North Korean nuclear crisis escalated. Since then, no live shooting was done until last August.
Since the Taurus missile was first deployed in 2016, around 260 missiles have been launched, but only one has been fired live.
The American air-to-ground missile SLAM-ER, which entered the Air Force with the introduction of the F-15K in 2005, was launched once in 2017, twice in 2022 , and once this year.
The POP EYE air-to-ground missile, developed by Israel and the United States, fired 13 shots from 2017 to last August.
Slam Eal has a much shorter range and lower penetration power than Taurus, so its power is limited. PopEye’s aircraft, the F-4, was retired this year.
In a situation where the Taurus is entirely dependent on the Air Force’s long-term strategic capability to counter North Korea’s nuclear and missile threats, the development of the Taurus’ real operational capabilities is directly linked to the capability sanctions against North Korea. Even with simulator training, it is considered difficult to replicate the actual flight and firing a missile at a target.
Some say that the price of the Taurus missile is more than 2 billion won per shot, which is a burden of cost, but some say that even if the price is heavy, the fighting power can be maintained and development only by carrying live fire.
The Taurus missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems in Germany, is a precision-guided missile that flies 500 km and accurately destroys ground targets. It is considered suitable for hitting North Korean underground facilities as it has the ability to penetrate more than 6 meters of reinforced concrete.
Missiles will be launched from the rear area beyond the range of the enemy’s air defense network, enough to attack Pyongyang from the skies over Daejeon, and hit the enemy’s key strategic targets with precision. If launched near Seoul, it can hit major facilities across North Korea within 15 minutes.
At the same time, from 2017 to 2023, there were 13 cases of failure due to problems during the live fire process of the Air Force’s guided weapons.
An Air Force KF-16 flagship fighter launched an AGM-65D Maverick air-to-ground missile on February 27, 2017, but it veered to the right of the target.
On October 14, 2021, it turned clockwise immediately after launch and failed to ignite live fire. On the 21st of last year, an AIM-120B AMRAAM medium-range air-to-air missile exploded 5 to 6 seconds after launch.
The domestic FA-50 light attack aircraft made a sharp turn immediately after the launch of an AIM-9P Sidewinder short-range air-to-air missile on August 26, 2021, and dropped a Korean precision-guided bomb (KGGB) on September 8, 2022, but made a sharp turn.
Reporter Park Soo-chan [email protected]
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2024-10-10 01:50:00
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