German finance minister ousted over missile aid to Ukraine

According to the portal Berliner Zeitung.de, citing Lindner's statement, his dismissal was due to a disagreement over allocating 3 billion euros (3.2 billion dollars) to Ukraine. Lindner criticized this idea because of the country's difficult situation and suggested giving Ukraine what it currently needs most.

This refers to the long-range cruise missile TAURUS KEPD 350, whose delivery to Ukraine had been under discussion since mid-2023. Chancellor Olaf Scholz reportedly disapproved and dismissed the FDP coalition politician from his position as finance minister. This led to the resignation of other FDP ministers and sparked a political crisis.

The TAURUS KEPD 350 cruise missile was developed through a collaboration between Berlin and Stockholm that began in the 1990s. A decade earlier, Germany had been seeking similar weaponry, collaborating with France on a missile program that later became the Storm Shadow.

However, Germany withdrew from this venture for political reasons and decided to develop its own missile with Sweden. The result was the TAURUS KEPD 350, introduced into service in 2005. Its name stands for Kinetic Energy Penetration Destroyer.

The TAURUS KEPD 350 is a cruise missile with a range exceeding 310 miles, produced using stealth technology. It is five meters long and weighs approximately 3,100 pounds, and is designed for launching from aircraft. It features an impressive 1,058-pound MEPHISTO (Multi-Effect Penetrator Highly Sophisticated and Target Optimised) warhead.

Its weight class is similar to the Storm Shadow's, but it features a very advanced fuse. This fuse can explode on impact, in the air, or with a delay—for example, after penetrating two walls. The fuse in the TAURUS has additional sensors that detect obstacles and empty spaces, allowing it to "count floors" and program detonation on a specific bunker floor.

In comparison, competitive missiles have their detonation delay set manually before the aircraft's flight based on data like target material type or wall thickness. This means there's always a margin of error, which is not present with the TAURUS.

A turbofan engine provides propulsion, enabling the missile to maintain subsonic speeds (from 0.8 to 0.9 Mach) at low altitudes. Precise targeting is ensured by a combination of inertial and satellite navigation and a fourth-generation (IIR) optoelectronic head that sees the target's thermal image.

This system additionally tracks the terrain and compares it with a preloaded map, ensuring the missile always hits the target, even in environments with heavy satellite navigation jamming. It would be the third weapon, after the Storm Shadow missiles and MGM-140 ATACMS ballistic missiles, to significantly increase the Ukrainians' capabilities.