Navy Tomahawk Now Targets Moving Ships at Sea
The latest Block V Tactical Tomahawk integrates a new generation of technical advances enabling the weapon to hit moving ships at sea.
KRIS OSBORN, WARRIOR MAVEN - CENTER FOR MILITARY MODERNIZATION21 HOURS AGO
By Kris Osborn, President, Center for Military Modernization
(Washington D.C.) Moving ships at sea can be difficult to target, particularly if surface weapons are the only available weapons because submarines and fighter jets are not in range to attack. This is a predicament the Navy has been working on for years through development of what it calls the “Tactical Tomahawk,” a modified variant of the cruise missile designed to hit moving ships at sea. As a combat-tested cruise missile able to travel as far as 900 nautical miles, the ship and submarine-launched Tomahawk has been modernized many times over the course of recent decades.
Tomahawk
The Tomahawk is often the first weapon to fire in war as it is both extremely precise and long-range. The current Block IV Tomahawk has a two-way data link to adjust to new target detail in flight and an almost drone-like ability to “loiter” above targets and send back specifics. The weapon has proven critical in attacking command and control targets, infrastructure and fixed locations such as enemy command centers, equipment and force concentrations. However, the Tomahawk has in recent years primarily been used against “fixed” targets, however the latest Block V Tactical Tomahawk integrates a new generation of technical advances enabling the weapon to hit moving ships at sea while flying parallel to the ocean surface beneath the radar aperture of what enemies can typically detect.
Block V Tactical Tomahawk
By traveling at lower altitudes parallel to the surface of the ocean, Tomahawk cruise missiles are engineered to elude enemy ship radar systems. The Block V Tactical Tomahawk is the most modern, cutting edge variant which introduces course correcting guidance technology enabling the weapon to adjust its trajectory quickly to strike moving targets.
https://warriormaven.com/sea/navy-tomahawk-targets-moving-ships-at-sea
