Sweden Has Received Taurus KEPD 350 Cruise Missiles From Bundeswehr Stocks for the Gripen C
Stockholm, 2 November 2026
Key points
- FMV, Sweden's defence materiel administration, confirmed to Dagens industri that Sweden has received Taurus cruise missiles from Bundeswehr stocks, hartpunkt reported on 2 November; the number remains secret
- In August a Swedish Air Force Gripen C fired a Taurus over the Vidsel range for the first time; markings on the missile indicated a warhead
- Whether Sweden received enough for integration work or an operational stock is not known; operational use also needs a mission-planning system to load geodata before launch
- Taurus KEPD 350, range over 500 km, is built by Taurus Systems, a joint venture of MBDA Deutschland and Saab; the original version is no longer produced, and the Bundeswehr bought 600 between 2005 and 2010
Sweden has taken its first Taurus cruise missiles for the Gripen from the Bundeswehr's inventory of a missile no longer in production.
FMV's original plan, from February 2025, set initial operational capability for 2028 on the Gripen C/D, with the Gripen E later, Swedish reporting says; the Air Force chief, Jonas Wikman, said in December that the work was going faster than planned but gave no new date. Spain and South Korea also operate the missile. The German stock is under contract for renewal on two lines. In March 2025 Saab took a SEK 1.7 billion order from Taurus Systems for the modernisation and ten years of maintenance of the German Air Force's Taurus, running from 2025 to 2035. In December 2025 BAAINBw and Taurus Systems signed a contract to prepare a serial production line for the improved Taurus NEO, which MBDA plans to build in large quantities in Germany.
Sweden has become a Taurus operator before any new Taurus has been built, and every round it holds came out of the 600 Germany is paying to keep in service. The NEO line is contracted only in preparation, with no delivery date published, so the transfer could only come from an existing magazine. FMV's confirmation does not say whether Stockholm received a test lot or the start of a stock, and that is the figure on which the 2028 date depends: an integration batch serves the trials, while an operational capability needs rounds, mission planning and geodata on the squadron. Neither government has said whether Germany's count will be replenished, or whether Sweden's eventual buy is NEO. The transfer, Signal No. 181 reported, came with the number withheld, which leaves the size of Sweden's new deep-strike capability to be inferred from its exercises.
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