The United States Navy

Tomahawk^® Cruise Missile

Description: The Tomahawk® Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long range, subsonic cruise missile used for land attack warfare, launched from U. S. Navy surface ships and U.S. Navy and Royal Navy submarines.

Background: Tomahawk® cruise missiles are designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, and are piloted over an evasive route by several mission tailored guidance systems. The first operational use was in Operation Desert Storm, 1991, with immense success. The missile has since been used successfully in several other conflicts. In 1995 the governments of the United States and United Kingdom signed a Foreign Military Sales Agreement for the acquisition of 65 missiles, marking the first sale of Tomahawk® to a foreign country. After a November 1998 launch and live warhead test, the U.K. declared operational capability.

Features: The Tomahawk® Block II Nuclear variant (TLAM-N) uses an Inertial Navigation System (INS) aided by Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) for missile navigation. TLAM-N contains the W80 nuclear warhead. Tomahawk® Block III adds Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) and Global Positioning Satellite System guidance capability which is highly coupled to the existing Block II guidance systems for precision navigation. The Tomahawk® Block III Conventional variant (TLAM-C) contains a 1,000-lb class blast/fragmentary unitary warhead while the Submunition variant (TLAM-D) includes a submunitions dispenser with combined effect bomblets. Because of its long range, lethality, and extreme accuracy Tomahawk® has become the weapon of choice for the U.S. Department of Defense.

Tomahawk® Block IV (Tactical Tomahawk™, TLAM-E), the next generation Tomahawk® cruise missile adds the capability to reprogram the missile while in-flight to strike any of 15 pre-programmed alternate targets or redirect the missile to any Global Positioning System (GPS) target coordinates. It also will be able to loiter over a target area, and with its on-board camera, will allow the warfighting commanders to assess target battle damage. The first launch of the Block IV Tomahawk® from an operational surface ship equipped with the Tactical Tomahawk™ Weapon Control System took place on 5 April 2003 from USS Stethem (DDG 63) off southern California. Launched from the Navy's forward-deployed ships and submarines, Tomahawk® Block IV, will provide a greater flexibility to the on-scene commander. Tomahawk® Block IV will become operational in mid 2004.

Point of Contact:
Program Executive Office, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation [PEO (W)]
Public Affairs Office
Naval Air Station
Patuxent River, Maryland 20670-1547
phone: 301-757-5289

General Characteristics

Primary Function: long-range subsonic cruise missile for striking high value or heavily defended land targets.
Contractor: Raytheon Systems Company, Tucson, Ariz.
Unit Cost: approximately $569,000 (FY99 $)
Power Plant:
Block II/III TLAM-A, C & D - Williams International F107 cruise turbo-fan engine ; ARC/CSD solid-fuel booster
Block IV TLAM-E - Williams International F415 cruise turbo-jet engine ; ARC solid-fuel booster
Length: 18 feet 3 inches (5.56 meters); with booster: 20 feet 6 inches (6.25 meters)
Weight: 2,900 pounds (1,315.44 kg); 3,500 pounds (1,587.6 kg) with booster
Diameter: 20.4 inches (51.81 cm)
Wing Span: 8 feet 9 inches (2.67 meters)
Range:
Block II TLAM-A – 1350 nautical miles (1500 statute miles, 2500 km)
Block III TLAM-C - 900 nautical miles (1000 statute miles, 1600 km)
Block III TLAM-D - 700 nautical miles (800 statute miles, 1250 km)
Block IV TLAM-E - 900 nautical miles (1000 statute miles, 1600 km)
Speed: Subsonic - about 550 mph (880 km/h)
Guidance System:
Block II TLAM-A – INS, TERCOM
Block III TLAM-C, D & Block IV TLAM-E – INS, TERCOM, DSMAC, and GPS
Warheads: Block II TLAM-N – W80 nuclear warhead
Block III TLAM-C and Block IV TLAM-E - 1,000 pound class unitary warhead
Block III TLAM-D - conventional submunitions dispenser with combined effect bomblets.
Date Deployed: Block II TLAM-A IOC - 1984
Block III – IOC 1994
Block IV – IOC expected 2004