The head of the defence unit of European aerospace giant Airbus has expressed understanding for the decision by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz not to provide Ukraine with the German-made Taurus cruise missile.

Speaking to news magazine Der Spiegel, Airbus Defence and Space chief executive Michael Schöllhorn said that technical solutions could be found to avoid direct German participation in programming the missiles in Ukraine, in remarks published on Saturday.

"But I can comprehend the political arguments," he added.

Scholz has come under pressure from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and from hawks within his three-party coalition to provide Ukraine with the modern air-launched missiles, which have a reported range of 500 kilometres.

"German troops may not be linked in any position or at any location with the targets that this system reaches. Not even in Germany," Scholz told a dpa editorial conference in February.

Scholz indicated that he believed that the German-Swedish missiles could only be used with participation by German military technicians.

Turning to the Eurofighter combat jets made by a consortium that includes Airbus, Schöllhorn called for a decision on ordering a further 50. "We need a reliable commitment from the German government that the fifth tranche is coming, otherwise we will lose the supplier companies," he said.

The German government had still not drawn the necessary consequences from the changes caused by the war in Ukraine, he said.

He was referring to Scholz's promise of a major "Zeitenwende" in Germany's defence policy shortly after Russia launched the full-scale invasion of Ukraine more than two years ago.