S. Korea Plans To Deploy Air-Launched GPS-Based Taurus Missiles To Hit North's Targets

South Korea plans to deploy "jamming proof" Taurus air-to-ground guided missiles that can be carried on its F-15K fighters in a bid to boost its strike capabilities by the end of this year to counter military threats from North Korea.

"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," an official from the Defense Acquisition Program Administration (DAPA) was quoted as saying by Yonhap Tuesday.

The development follows the US government’s approval of exports of military GPS receivers that can be attached to war planes. These are what makes the missiles jamming proof as they would be unaffected by North Korean GPS.

The missile will form a core weapon system for the Seoul's "kill chain" defense system. The kill chain aims to enhance the country's capability to detect and destroy North Korea's weapons of mass destruction.

If the Taurus missiles, with a range of over 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," the official said.

A military GPS receiver is a radio processor capable of handling navigation equations in order to determine the user position, velocity and precise time, by processing the signal broadcasted by U.S. military GPS satellites. Washington has generally not allowed foreign conutries to gain access to the receivers.

South Korea has ordered the Taurus, which is 5.1 meters long and weigh 1,400 kilograms, to deal with evolving North Korean threats. The system has a 480 kg warhead and can fly as low as 40 ms off the ground at a speed of Mach 0.95 that can allow it to evade enemy radar.