Sweden Fires First Taurus Missile From Gripen

The Swedish Air Force has test-fired the Taurus KEPD 350 long-range cruise missile from a Saab Gripen for the first time, clearing a significant milestone in a weapons integration programme that the service has been deliberately accelerating.

The Swedish Air Force confirmed the launch on 21 August 2026, saying it took place at the Vidsel Test Range in Norrbotten using one of its JAS 39s — the local designation for the Gripen family. “Taurus is a long-range cruise missile that introduces a new deep-strike capability,” the service said.

Video released alongside the announcement indicates the aircraft used was a specially test-configured Gripen C carrying the number 39-6. The Aviationist notes that the weapon in the video was a live example rather than an inert test round, identifiable by its yellow band.

A capability Sweden did not previously have

For the Swedish Air Force this is not an incremental upgrade. Speaking to FlightGlobal in July, air force commander Major General Jonas Wikman set out how much weight the service is putting behind the programme. “Adding offensive capabilities is a really important priority for us,” Wikman said. “We have pushed that introduction left by more than one year, which means it will be present soon.”

Wikman has previously been blunter still about the gap the missile fills, telling Defense News that the service had not held any deep-strike or offensive counter-air capability at all, and that after years of concentrating spending on defensive systems the shift represented a major change of direction. Entry into service had originally been pencilled in for 2028; the integration and procurement effort itself only formally began in February 2025.

What the Taurus brings

The Taurus KEPD 350 is produced by Taurus Systems, a joint venture between Swedish manufacturer Saab and European munitions supplier MBDA. According to the manufacturer the weapon offers a range beyond 270nm (500km) and uses a tandem 480kg (1,058lb) warhead configuration known as MEPHISTO — Multi-Effect Penetrator Highly Sophisticated and Target Optimised — designed to defeat hardened or buried structures.

Its defining characteristic is how it gets there. An onboard low-level terrain-following navigation system allows the missile to fly beneath air defence coverage rather than attempt to fight through it, hugging the terrain on the way to the target.

Long-standing compatibility, late integration

The pairing is not a surprise on paper. Saab has described the Taurus as Gripen-compatible since the early 2000s, and when the German production contract was announced in 2002 the company explicitly listed the JAS 39 among the aircraft able to carry it. Mock-ups of the weapon appeared on Gripens at air shows as far back as FIDAE 2016 in Chile, and Saab released a promotional image of a Gripen carrying two Taurus rounds. What had never happened until now was an actual launch.

Sweden operates the Taurus alongside a small group of other users: the missile is also certified for Germany’s Panavia Tornado, Spain’s Boeing F/A-18 Hornet and South Korea’s Boeing F-15K Slam Eagle.

Not every Swedish Gripen is expected to carry it. The Defence Materiel Administration said in 2025 that it would upgrade 60 Gripen C/Ds, which will remain in service alongside the newer Gripen E/F fleet — and it is that upgraded C/D population that is the natural home for the new weapon.

Sources: FlightGlobal, The Aviationist. Featured image: AI-generated by AviationShop. By Marco Bianchi.