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In response to this threat, there have been increasing calls in Tokyo to field a “counter-strike capability” that could put China and North Korea’s missile launchers at risk. The latest Block V model re-introduces anti-ship capability in a subvariant called the Block Va Maritime Strike Tomahawk, integrating a radar seeker that enables it to home in on moving ships. There’s also a Block Vb with an advanced JMEWS warhead capable of bunker-busting penetrating strikes on underground missile silos and WMD facilities. Defense Minister Minoru Kihara announced in December a decision to accelerate deployment of some Tomahawks and Japanese-made Type 12 surface-to-ship missiles beginning in fiscal year 2025, a year before the original plan.
Launch systems
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. As part of this, Raytheon and the Navy have been developing a new payload for the weapon involving a more-penetrating warhead called the Joint Multiple Effects Warhead System, or JMEWS. The JMEWS gives the Tomahawk better bunker buster type effects, improving its ability to penetrate hardened structures like concrete and reach greater depths if needed. Built to counter Soviet air defenses years ago, Tomahawks often fly parallel to the surface of the ocean to elude enemy radar.
Tactical Tomahawk: The Navy's Cruise Missile Has New Capabilities
Jen Judson is an award-winning journalist covering land warfare for Defense News. She holds a Master of Science degree in journalism from Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Kenyon College. Defense News first reported the Army’s plan to pursue the midrange missile in September 2020.
What is the Maritime Strike Tomahawk cruise missile?
Despite upgrades to Japanese air defense, including huge warships dedicated to ballistic missile defense using SM-3 missiles, likely some attacks would get through and potentially wreak great destruction. In a recent simulation of an attempted Chinese invasion of Taiwan, missile attacks on Japanese bases destroyed hundreds of American and Japanese combat aircraft on the ground. 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 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.
Japanese Soldiers Complete US-Led Tomahawk Land Attack Missile Training - The Defense Post
Japanese Soldiers Complete US-Led Tomahawk Land Attack Missile Training.
Posted: Tue, 02 Apr 2024 07:00:00 GMT [source]
It is called the Tactical Tomahawk, a newly configured Tomahawk missile with adjusted software, radio-throughput and guidance technology enabling it to adjust course in flight to an unprecedented degree. In this first-ever deployment, the 1st MDTF stationed out of the continental United States at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington deployed Typhon on a U.S. Over 8,000 miles and 15 hours later, America’s first ground-based cruise missile launcher since the Cold War rolled onto Philippine soil at an unidentified airfield in Northern Luzon for the bilateral U.S.-Philippine ground forces exercise Salaknib 2024. 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.
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. Today’s guided missile cruisers carry 122 silos, while destroyers carry between 90 and 96 silos. Theoretically, a cruiser could carry up to 122 Block Va missiles, though a more rounded mix of all of the above is preferred. 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. “We’ve seen just how effective and hard to target land-based, long-range precision fires are, and we are continuing to add those, and right now we have the medium-range capability that is actually out and exercising with our partners,” he said. The Tomahawk is a key weapons system manufactured by RTX, which has sought to maintain its relevance in the evolving battlespace through spiral development and upgrades.
Tomahawk missile variants
The Netherlands has also confirmed that it would acquire the Block V Tomahawk for use in its De Zeven Provinciën-class frigates. Earlier, in March this year the US approved the possible FMS of 200 Block V and 20 Block IV Tomahawk missiles to Australia, with a deal valued at $895m. However, legacy operators in recent years have moved to upgrade existing Block IV stock to Block V, either through recertification or acquisition of new missiles.
Unlike the Navy, however, the Air Force kept a hand in cruise missile technology. Early systems, such as the Matador, Snark, and the ambitious Navaho, lived on in newer operational versions like the Hound Dog, which flew aboard B-52 long-range strategic bombers. Then, in the 1970s, the Air Force debuted the Air Launched Cruise Missile (ALCM) that bore a close resemblance in performance and capabilities to the Tomahawk. The missile can be launched from over 140 US Navy ships and submarines and Astute and Trafalgar class submarines of the Royal Navy. All cruisers, destroyers, guided missile and attack submarines in the US Navy are equipped with a Tomahawk weapons system.
Submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles entered service in 1983 with conventional (i.e., nonnuclear) land-attack and antiship missile variants, as well as with a land-attack missile carrying a nuclear warhead. The nuclear variant has since been retired, and a land-attack cluster-bomb variant that disperses bomblets has been added. By the start of the Persian Gulf War in 1991, Tomahawks had been fitted to surface ships.
The sophisticated guidance system uses a combination of GPS, TERCOM (Terrain Contour Matching) and DSMAC (Digital Scene-Matching Area Correlator) to ensure the missile accurately destroys its target. TERCOM uses radar signals, while DSMAC uses optical images stored in the electronic system. As it closes in on its target, the missile drops to an altitude of 100 feet or less before impact. In layman’s terms, this type of missile is designed to be used at great distances, with pinpoint accuracy, minimizing risk to personnel and civilians. 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.
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. During the opening salvos of a regional attack, military planning calls for sea-based Tomahawks to be used to compromise and suppress enemy air operations and defenses.
The U.S. Army’s new ground-based launcher, capable of supporting Tomahawk cruise missiles and SM-6, appeared for the first time in the Indo-Pacific in a deployment to the Northern Philippines for military drills. The exact guidance system and navigational dynamics of the Tomahawk missile are classified. However, it is known that it can use GPS or inertial guidance systems to hit the target. Navy states that up to 15 targets can be pre-programmed for missile salvos.
From Northern Luzon, located along the first island chain separating mainland Asia from the open Pacific, supposedly the area to which the system has been deployed for Salaknib 2024 according to a U.S. Army press release, Typhon’s missiles could cover not only the entire Luzon Strait but also reach the Chinese coast and various People’s Liberation Army bases in the South China Sea. As a result of these incidents, with some including Philippine Navy personnel injured by China Coast Guard water cannons, Manila has stepped up cooperation with the U.S. and other supportive countries via military exercises and exchanges. According to budget data from the United States Marine Corps from 2022, each Tomahawk costs around $2 million. As of now, the United States and the United Kingdom are the only countries to deploy Tomahawk missiles, although Australia and Japan have put out bids to purchase Tomahawks.
In August it was reported that RTX, formerly Raytheon, secured a $124.2m contract worth to enhance the capabilities of Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) missiles for the US Navy. The developmental MST seeker suites are a component of the weapon’s recertification process, currently underway with the Low-Rate Production Three initiative. Raytheon received a $122m contract from the US Navy in March 2015 for the production of 114 Tomahawk Block IV all-up round missiles. Raytheon conducted an active seeker test flight for the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile in January 2016. The Tomahawk is designed to operate at very low altitudes while maintaining high-subsonic speeds. Its modular design enables the integration of numerous types of warheads, guidance and control systems.
Sébastien Roblin has written on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including 19FortyFive, The National Interest, MSNBC, Forbes.com, Inside Unmanned Systems and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. Japan and the United States agreed to expedite the deployment “in response to the increasingly severe security environment,” Kihara said.
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