South Korean Air Force to Utilize Taurus Missiles This Year

by YuGee / Aug 09, 2016 06:19 AM EDT

Two South Korean air force pilots were forced to eject from their F-16D fighter jet after the aircraft's engine failed suddenly during a routine drill on Wednesday.

Military officials on Tuesday said that South Korea intends to deploy tons of "jamming-proof" air-to-ground missiles. These can be carried on its F-15K fighter jets in order to boost their strike efficiency amidst the military hazards from North Korea.

Due to the recently-approved exports of crucial military GPS receivers by the United States, Taurus missiles will be brought in from Germany by the end of 2016. The military further explained that the military GPS receivers can be attached or connected to war planes, and they are not affected by North Korean GPS jamming.

Based on a report from the Korea Herald, the F-15K Slam Eagle is created and intended to penetrate the North's air defense systems and accurately wipe out primary military facilities. With the Taurus missile, the plane can hit the capital city of North Korea, Pyongyang, when flying over Daejeon, 164 kilometers south of Seoul. Also, the jets could fire off a Taurus missile over the East Sea and hit the missile launching facility in Hwadae, located in the northern part of North Korea.

One official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration said, "Taurus missiles combined with GPS receivers and the flight termination system, or FTS, will be deployed in two to three months with the Air Force."

The missile will create a core weapon scheme for the "kill chain" defense system of Seoul. This so-called kill chain intends to improve the capability of the country to identify and eradicate the weapons of mass destruction of North Korea.

The official also added, "If the Taurus missiles, with a range of 500 km, are added to the Air Force's inventory, South Korea will be the first operator of fighter jets equipped with the advanced system in Asia."

A military GPS receiver is a radio processor that is able of managing handling navigation equations that could identify the user position, time, and velocity. This can be done by processing the signal transmitted by the United States military GPS satellites. In general, Washington has not permitted other countries to have access to the receivers.

South Korea has ordered the Taurus in order to cope with the growing threats from North Korea. It is 5.1 meters long, weighs 1,400 kilograms, has a 480 kg warhead, and can fly as low as 40 ms off the ground with a speed of Mach 0.95, which enables it to dodge enemy radar.