Celsius and German DASA/LFK form a joint company

German DASA/LFK and Celsius form a joint company The German company DASA-LFK and Celsius, through their business unit Bofors Missiles, have formed a joint company for the development, production and marketing of the air-to-surface missile Taurus. The company is named Taurus Systems GmbH. Ownership in the company is distributed 67 per cent LFK and 33 per cent Celsius. LFK and Bofors Missiles have together defined the surface target missile family as TAURUS. This spring the German counterpart to the Swedish Defence Materiel Administration, BWB, placed an order for the development of the TAURUS missile KEPD 350 with LFK. This development contract is now to be transferred to the newly formed company. The order extends on the first hand over a three and a half year period, but also includes an option for preparations for serial production, and later for serial production. In Germany the KEPD 350 is intended for the Tornado aircraft and possibly later for the Eurofighter. The project is extremely important since Bofors Missiles is participating in a big European development project and is now involved in the tough but substantial market embracing aircraft armaments, comments head of the Celsius Group, Lars G. Josefsson. The German decision will be of great importance to the future of the Celsius Group. Strategically extremely important for Celsius since Bofors Missiles becomes involved in a completely new product area, airborne missiles. The project means as well that the Swedish defence, within the next five year period may have a surface target missile adapted to the JAS 39 Gripen and the demands on a modernised defence force structure. The JAS adapted variant, KEPD 150 has great potential synergy with the German KEPD 350. Sweden has displayed its interest by ordering a definition study of KEPD 150 from Bofors Missiles. The new company will initially have 35 employees with a head office in Schrobenhausen in Germany. Taurus Systems GmbH is subcontracting to LFK, Bofors and other companies. Furthermore, Taurus Systems GmbH is also open to a co-operation with other industries in Europe, with this project. 2 (2) For further information, please contact Celsius Group President and CEO, Lars G. Josefsson, telephone +46 8 463 00 00 or the Celsius Head of Corporate Communications, Kjell Göthe, telephone +46 8 463 00 19 or +46 70 583 95 44. Celsius is an advanced-technology international industrial group, with domestic markets in the Nordic countries, the U.S.A. and Australia. Firmly founded on a comprehensive joint technological base, operations focus primarily on three priority areas: Defence, Commercial Aviation Services and Business Development, which currently comprises materials technology, explosives and infomatics. With annual sales of approximately SEK 12 billion, the Celsius Group numbers some 11,000 employees.