#Tomahawk cruise missile upgrade

In 2003, an agreement was approved for the United Kingdom to procure 65 Block IV Torpedo Tube Launch Tomahawks. 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. The missile has since been used successfully in several other conflicts. The first operational use was in Operation Desert Storm, 1991, with immense success. 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.

Future Block V capabilities will include the Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) variant, which adds a seeker kit (designated as Block Va), and a replacement for the current warhead with the Joint Multiple Effects Warhead System (JMEWS) (designated as Block Vb).

#Tomahawk cruise missile upgrade

All Block IV missiles will undergo recertification and modernization.īlock V missiles feature Navigation/Communications (NAV/COMMs) upgrade that enhances navigation performance and provides robust and reliable communications. The mid-life recertification process replaces life-limited components in Block IV missiles to enable their remaining 15 years of service life, and provides the opportunity for the missiles to receive Block V modernizations. The first Block V missiles are from the existing Tomahawk Block IV inventory, and have been recertified and modernized for fleet use. The Navy received its first Block V configured Tomahawk missile from Raytheon in March 2021, paving the way to provide the fleet with an upgraded warfighting capability. The Block IV missile is capable of loitering over a target area in order to respond to emerging targets or, with its on-board camera, provide battle damage information to warfighting commanders. The Tomahawk Block IV (Tactical Tomahawk, TLAM-E), conventional variant, which entered the Fleet in 2004, adds the capability to reprogram the missile while in-flight via two-way satellite communications to strike any of 15 pre-programmed alternate targets or redirect the missile to any Global Positioning System (GPS) target coordinates. Navy and United Kingdom Royal Navy submarines. The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is an all-weather, long range, subsonic cruise missile used for deep land attack warfare, launched from U.