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Block IV Tomahawks added more features, including the ability to be re-routed to new targets in mid-flight. Block IV missiles also feature a camera and datalink, allowing a missile to send imagery back to friendly forces. If a Tomahawk discovers its target already struck or civilians are crowding the target area, the missile can be re-routed to destroy something else. The US Navy placed a $338m contract with Raytheon in June 2012 for the delivery of 361 Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missiles. Another contract worth $254.6m was awarded for Tomahawk Block IV in the same year.
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Variants of the Block V can change targets in flight and strike moving targets at sea. The Tomahawk cruise missile has been in service since the 1980s but continuously upgraded to the new Block V variants, which includes an anti-ship missile capability. The Tomahawk made its debut in live combat during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. On January 17, the USS Paul F. Foster launched the first Tomahawk missile, and nearly 300 additional missiles were launched from U.S. Outside of the Gulf War, Tomahawks were used to attack Iraq several more times in the 1990s, against Bosnian targets in 1995, during NATO actions against Yugoslavia, and during the engagements against Afghanistan after 9/11. More recently, Tomahawks saw use in Libya as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, ISIS in Syria experienced the effects of Tomahawks, and Syrian chemical weapons facilities used by despot Bashar Al-Assad were struck by Tomahawks in 2017.
Navigation
The development of hypersonic missiles could, however, push out the Tomahawk down the road as the technology gets more advanced and of a size compatible with the Navy’s ubiquitous Mark 41 VLS launcher. With all the emphasis on supersonic and hypersonic missiles and with the improvements in air defenses, that might make Tomahawk seem like a fuddy-duddy by comparison. In 2017, Raytheon’s Tomahawk program manager told reporters at an event at the missile plant in Tucson, Ariz., that the navigation system upgrades will ensure the missile can strike targets even if GPS is taken down. The submarines USS Louisville and USS Pittsburgh launched Tomahawks in 1991 at targets in Iraq and became the first submarines to fire Tomahawks while submerged. Today’s guided missile cruisers carry 122 silos, while destroyers carry between 90 and 96 silos.
Guidance and control
The U.S. Navy states that 140 total craft are capable of launching Tomahawks. That number consists of Ohio-class submarines, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and more. The United States Army has also tested launching Tomahawks from ground-based platforms.
Tomahawks are launched vertically from ships, but they can be launched horizontally from torpedo tubes on attack submarines or from external launchers attached to a submarine’s hull. Thereafter it is powered by a turbofan engine that does not emit much heat, which makes infrared detection difficult. It can also elude detection by radar because it has a small cross section and operates at low altitudes. As the TERCOM scans the landscape, the Tomahawk missile is capable of twisting and turning like a radar-evading fighter plane, skimming the landscape at an altitude of only 30–90 metres (100–300 feet). The Block IV Tomahawk, in service since 2004, includes a two-way data link for in-flight retargeting, terrain navigation, digital scene-matching cameras and a high-grade inertial navigation system, Raytheon officials said. The current Block IV Tomahawk missile continues to receive upgrades, to include added abilities to conduct battle damage assessments and a new, more explosive warhead option for commanders seeking alternative blast effects.
RGM / UGM-109C (Block III TLAM-C) is a conventional unitary variant, carrying a 1,000lb-class warhead. RGM / UGM-109D (Block III TLAM-D) is a submunitions dispenser variant armed with 166 combined-effects bomblets. The Tomahawk was first deployed in combat in the 1991 Gulf War in Operation Desert Storm, with the first salvo launched from the USS Paul F. Foster (DD 964) at Iraqi targets.18 Overall, the mission achieved initial success.
Range and power
The missile can carry 160 bomblets, a 1,000-pound conventional warhead, or a W80 nuclear warhead. Using GPS, inertial navigation, and terrain contour matching, the Tomahawk has the ability to hit within ten yards of its intended target. It can also perform evasive maneuvers at extremely low altitudes, allowing it to take out diverse targets and do so without causing much collateral damage.
The Tomahawk Block IV uses GPS navigation and a satellite data-link to continue through a pre-set course. The Block Va variants will be named Maritime Strike and have the capability of hitting a moving target. While the Tomahawk isn’t as stealthy or fast as some modern successors, it’s been heavily improved over the years. “The MRC deployment aims to enhance Philippine maritime defense capabilities, while bolstering interoperability and readiness within the U.S.-Philippine Alliance,” states the press release.
The recent deinstallation of the Tomahawk provides an opportunity to recount some of the highlights of this fascinating story of technological evolution. Development of what would become the Tomahawk began in the 1940s, but the emergence of the Polaris ballistic missile program led to its shelving. Technological advances made it possible for the missile to be revisited in the 1970s, and the new weapon was introduced by defense contractor McConnell Douglas in 1983. The first iteration of the Block V upgrades the missile’s communication and navigation systems. This is about making it tougher to counter and detect electronically, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and senior fellow at The Hudson Institute.
In recent years, activities in Salaknib have shifted to include higher-end drills, such as coastal defense, amid the Philippine military’s shift from internal security operations to archipelagic coastal defense. The U.S. Navy is now producing a first-of-its-kind next-generation Tomahawk missile able to fire from Navy ships and destroy moving targets at sea, a new variant of the combat-tried cruise missile bringing another dimension to maritime warfare. The missiles are approximately 21 feet long, weigh 1.5 tons and can be launched from both traditional torpedo tubes and vertical launch tubes on modern submarines. Once the Tomahawk is in the air, the turbojet engine kicks in and its wings spread, allowing it to reach speeds of 500 miles per hour.
Its modular design enables the integration of numerous types of warheads, guidance and control systems. The Tomahawk Block IV missiles were converted and upgraded to Block V in 2017. The upgraded Tomahawk includes extended range, enhanced navigation and communication systems and modernised data-link radio. The Tomahawk family of missiles includes a number of variants, carrying different warheads. After initial interest and planning (2005), the Dutch Ministry of Defence in 2023 confirmed ordering the ship launched- and submarine launched versions of the Tomahawk to be installed on both existing as well as future frigates & submarines.
Raytheon was contracted to integrate the upgraded navigation and communication systems into the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM) missile in March 2020. Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile in service with the surface ships and submarines of the US and the UK’s Royal Navy. Originally produced by General Dynamics, Tomahawk is currently manufactured by Raytheon. One question remains the choice of launch platform, as air-, sea-, submarine- and land-based options reportedly were considered. The cheapest option would be land-based trucks, but warships and aircraft would effectively expand the range and possible approach vectors of Japan’s Tomahawks. Presently, reports suggest they’ll begin deployment on Japan’s powerful destroyers, which already come with the same Mark 41 Vertical Launch Systems used by U.S.
The 4,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in August 2017. The US Navy warships and submarines launched 66 GPS-enabled Tomahawk missiles at Syrian chemical weapon facilities in 2018. Army selected the Navy’s Standard Missile-6 (SM-6) and the BGM-109 Tomahawk for its Mid-Range Capability (MRC), part of the service’s ground-launched strike modernization effort. Following the selection, the Army awarded a $339.3 million contract to integrate both weapons for a ground-based launcher by late 2022. In 1995, the US agreed to sell 65 Tomahawks to the UK for torpedo-launch from their nuclear attack submarines. After achieving flight, the missile's wings are unfolded for lift, the airscoop is exposed and the turbofan engine is employed for cruise flight.
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