Sweden’s Shift to Offensive Airpower Doctrine Centres Around New Taurus ‘Bunker Buster’ Missiles

The Swedish Air Force has taken a major step towards providing its Gripen lightweight fighters with long-range deep-strike capability, with one of the aircraft for the first time launching a Taurus KEPD 350 cruise missile on August 21. Swedish Air Force commander Major General Jonas Wikman previously described the capability as particularly important because Sweden had not previously possessed a dedicated deep-strike or offensive counter-air capability. “The capability itself is very important because we haven’t had any deep-strike or offensive counter-air capabilities before,” Wikman said. 

The Taurus was jointly developed by Germany and Sweden, and saw the first production contracts placed in 2002. Sweden’s first procurement and integration program, however, was only announced in February 2025, with initial operational capability originally planned for 2028. The weapon was designed to engage targets that are difficult to attack with conventional fighter-launched bombs, namely those that are hardened, deeply buried and heavily protected such as command facilities. Its ability to fly hundreds of kilometres before reaching its target allows the launching aircraft to remain far outside the immediate defensive envelope surrounding the objective.

Wikman stressed that Sweden had previously have concentrated its resources on defensive capabilities, but that with the Taurus’ integration,“now that is a huge shift for us.” Gripens were designed to be dispersed at bases and on road networks across Sweden, then launched to deliver long-range precision weapons without requiring a large fixed airbase to remain operational. That creates a potentially difficult targeting problem for an adversary, as Gripens will be able to continue launching deep strikes from dispersed locations.

One of Taurus’s most distinctive features is its emphasis on destroying hardened sites, with its warhead designed to penetrate the target before detonating its main charge. This makes it particularly suitable for hardened structures, reinforced buildings, bunkers and other installations where a conventional surface explosion might have limited effect. Its navigation system combines different forms of guidance and terrain-related information to maintain its course in spite of potential electronic interference.