Tactical Tomahawk Cleared For Operational Evaluation

Sea Power, Feb 2004

After a series of eight successful flight tests that began in August 2002, the new Block IV version of the Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile - known as Tactical Tomahawk and built by Raytheon Missile Systems - has been cleared for the, Navy's operational evaluation.

The Tactical Tomahawk completed its technical evaluation in July 2003 after going through evaluations of its launch-platform mission planning, reduced mission-planning timelines, in-flight communications allowing real-time retargeting, and its accuracy.

The new missile will be put through another series of flight tests launched from both surface ships and submarines off the coast of California in early 2004. A decision to proceed with full-rate production of the missile is expected in the spring.

In a related development, the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) - designed by Lockheed Martin - has achieved initial operational capability onboard Navy ships. The TTWCS uses inputs from a ship's navigation, communication, situational awareness, and launch systems to compute the missile's flight path. The Launch Platform Mission Planning component of the TTWCS reduces reaction time by speeding up the mission-planning process. The TTWCS will be used to plan missile strikes for the Block III version of the Tomahawk as well as the Tactical Tomahawk.