Turkish plane lost radio, Germany raises two Tornado combat aircraft

By TOC On Aug 22, 2022

BERLIN ($1=1.00 Euro) — Two Tornado military aircraft belonging to Germany took off at around 02:00 on August 21 to the A320 passenger plane departing from Turkey and bound for Münster, Germany.

Luftwaffe fired KEPD 350 AGM in a combined fire with ATACMS SAM — Photo: Pinterest

The German Air Force was alerted to the aircraft, which became unresponsive on the radio and could not be contacted by radio while in the airspace of the state of Bavaria. Two Tornado aircraft were immediately launched from the Fliegerhorst military airfield in Neuburg a der Donau.

An escort

Two planes flying over cities at midnight reached the A320 from Turkey at a speed of 2000 kilometers per hour. One of the planes passed behind the passenger plane, and the other began to fly next to it. Radio contact was later established with the A320.

Although it said there was no other problem, it was not disclosed which company the plane belonged to and the source of the problem.

Tornado tested KEPD 350 AGM

Although the Luftwaffe plans to abandon its Tornado fighter jets by ordering the F-35 from the US, Germany continues to test the combat capabilities of its aircraft. Recently, tests were conducted on a new missile and its compatibility with the Tornado.

As we reported on June 8 Panavia Tornado twin-engine, variable-sweep wing multirole combat aircraft of the German Air Force [Luftwaffe] has launched a target in Norway long-range air-to-ground missile Taurus KEPD 350, which has an impressive maximum range of 500 km. The shooting took place during the Stand-off Weapon exercise.

Six Luftwaffe Tornados took off from a base in Germany, accompanied by two Eurofighter Typhoon fighters and an A400M refueling aircraft. During the exercise, German Tornado attack planes fired a Taurus KEPD 350 air-to-ground missile in a combined fire with the US ATACMS and Tomahawks from the sea.

According to experts, the use of combined fire from the air, water, and land allows to increases the effectiveness of attacking heavily fortified targets. Hitting targets within the group in a possible conflict situation can prevent or even paralyze potential aggression, giving time to deploy more forces in the area of operations.

Taurus KEPD 350

The Taurus KEPD 350 is a Swedish-German missile designed to be launched from air launchers. Its development was completed at the end of 2005 and in the same year entered service with the Luftwaffe. In addition to Germany, the missile is in service in Spain and South Korea.

This is an extremely precise long-range missile. It weighs 1,400 kg and is 5 meters long. Its diameter is just over one meter. It is powered by a Williams WJ38-15 turbofan engine and its wingspan is 2,065 m [6 ft 9.3 in]. The maximum range of the missile is over 500 km and it flies at a maximum altitude of 70 meters, developing a speed of Mach 1.

The missile is guided, and the guidance system consists of IBN [image-based navigation], INS [inertial navigation system], TRN [terrain-referenced navigation], and MIL-GPS [Global Positioning System]. In addition to the Tornado fighter jet, this missile can be carried by the F / A-18, and F-15K. In recent years it has been tested and successfully worn by Gripen and Eurofighter Typhoon.

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