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How Cruise Missiles Work

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Tomahawk cruise missiles frequently appear in the news because they are the U.S. weapon of choice for a variety of quick-strike operations. With all of the missiles in the U.S. arsenal, have you ever wondered why cruise missiles seem to come up so often?

In this edition of HowStuffWorks , we will look at cruise missiles so that you can understand what they are, how they operate and why they are ideal for certain scenarios.

A cruise missile is basically a small, pilotless airplane . Cruise missiles have an 8.5-foot (2.61-meter) wingspan, are powered by turbofan engines and can fly 500 to 1,000 miles (805 to 1,610 km) depending on the configuration.

A cruise missile's job in life is to deliver a 1,000-pound (450-kg) high-explosive bomb to a precise location -- the target. The missile is destroyed when the bomb explodes. Since cruise missiles cost between $500,000 and $1,000,000 each, it's a fairly expensive way to deliver a 1,000-pound package.

Cruise missiles come in a number of variations (see the links at the end of the article for more information) and can be launched from submarines , destroyers or aircraft.

When you hear about hundreds of cruise missiles being fired at targets, they are almost always Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from destroyers.

Cruise missiles are 20 feet (6.25 meters) long and 21 inches (0.52 meters) in diameter. At launch, they include a 550-pound (250-kg) solid rocket booster and weigh 3,200 pounds (1450 kg).

The booster falls away once it has burned its fuel. The wings, tail fins and air inlet unfold, and the turbofan engine takes over.

This engine weighs just 145 pounds (65 kg) and produces 600 pounds of thrust burning RJ4 fuel. The fuel load is 800 to 1,000 pounds (about 450 kg) of fuel at launch, or approximately 150 gallons (600 liters). The missile has a cruising speed of 550 mph (880 kph).

The hallmark of a cruise missile is its incredible accuracy. A common statement made about the cruise missile is, "It can fly 1,000 miles and hit a target the size of a single-car garage." Cruise missiles are also very effective at evading detection by the enemy because they fly very low to the ground (out of the view of most radar systems ).

Four different systems help guide a cruise missile to its target:

• IGS - Inertial Guidance System
• Tercom - Terrain Contour Matching
• GPS - Global Positioning System
• DSMAC - Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation

The IGS is a standard acceleration-based system that can roughly keep track of where the missile is located based on the accelerations it detects in the missile's motion ( click here for a good introduction). Tercom uses an on-board 3-D database of the terrain the missile will be flying over. The Tercom system "sees" the terrain it is flying over using its radar system and matches this to the 3-D map stored in memory. The Tercom system is responsible for a cruise missile's ability to "hug the ground" during flight. The GPS system uses the military's network of GPS satellites and an onboard GPS receiver to detect its position with very high accuracy.

Once it is close to the target, the missile switches to a "terminal guidance system" to choose the point of impact. The point of impact could be pre-programmed by the GPS or Tercom system. The DSMAC system uses a camera and an image correlator to find the target, and is especially useful if the target is moving. A cruise missile can also be equipped with thermal imaging or illumination sensors (as used in smart bombs ).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do cruise missiles navigate to their target, what advancements have been made in cruise missile technology, lots more information, related articles.

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More Great Links

• USAF Fact Sheet: AGM-86B/C Missiles
• U.S. navy Fact File: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• BBC News: NATO's firepower: The cruise missile
• Time.com: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• Analysis: Tomahawks, Submarines and the F-111

Launch systems

• Arleigh Burke Class (AEGIS) Guided Missile Destroyers, USA
• SSN Los Angles Class Attack Submarine, USA - U.S. subs that launch cruise missiles
• SSN Astute Class Attack Submarine, UK - Royal Navy subs that launch cruise missiles
• B-52H Stratofortress Long-Range Multi-Role Bomber, USA
• B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, USA

Miscellaneous

• Williams F107-WR-101 Turbofan Engine
• Digital Imagery Workstation Suite (DIWS) - generates the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) reference scenes

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Everything To Know About Tomahawk Missiles: Speed, Cost, And Destructive Power

Tomahawk missiles have been world famous since the first Gulf War in 1991 when the United States used the missile against Saddam Hussein's forces in Iraq and Kuwait. Since then, the missile system has been used in nearly every conflict the United States has been involved in, including recent strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Given the weapon's ubiquity, it's worth exploring what exactly a Tomahawk missile is. The United States Navy reports that over 2,300 Tomahawks have been deployed in combat, with that number increasing by the day.

According to the Missile Defense Project from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Tomahawk (full name Tomahawk Land Attack Missile) has been in service since 1983 and were first developed for the United States Navy starting in 1972. It was designed to be launched from ships or submarines and was, from the outset, made with nuclear payloads in mind. However, nuclear-armed Tomahawks have not been used in combat and are currently deactivated.

Slow and steady

The Tomahawk missile itself is a 20.3 foot long craft with a wingspan of eight and a half feet, and it weighs 3,330 pounds with all of its components. It's powered by both a rocket booster and turbofan jet engine made by Williams International. According to PBS, the rocket booster engine launches the Tomahawk in the air (hence all the smoke you may see in news broadcasts or photos you see of the missile) and then its jet engine takes the missile the rest of the way to its target.

Despite being powered by rockets and a jet engine, the Tomahawk missile itself isn't that fast, at least comparatively. It reportedly travels at a speed of around 550 miles per hour. An F-16 fighter jet tops out at 1,500 miles per hour and the much larger Minuteman III ballistic missile can reach speeds of up to 15,000 miles per hour. Supposedly, the Tomahawk's relatively low speed helps it avoid radar systems more efficiently. Additionally, it flies at an altitude of between 100 and 300 feet, much lower than conventional fighter aircraft.

Range and power

The actual payload of the Tomahawk can consist of a number of different munitions. But the primary warhead of the Tomahawk is a 1,000-pound high explosive charge. It can also carry cluster munitions consisting of small bomblets, similar to the ATACMS currently used in Ukraine . For explosive force, Tomahawks were more than enough to disable runways or sink ships.

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. Additionally, the U.S. Navy states that up to 15 targets can be pre-programmed for missile salvos. The Tomahawk is capable of "loitering," meaning that, provided the missile has enough fuel, it can fly around in circles to relay information or wait for the right target. It has a range of around 1,500 miles, meaning that the ship or submarine launching the missile is well out of harm's way. It is accurate to within 10 meters.

The Tomahawk's combat history

The Tomahawk is primarily made by Raytheon Missile Systems. 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.

The U.S. Navy states that 140 total craft are capable of launching Tomahawks. That number consists of Ohio-class submarines, Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, and more. The United States Army has also tested launching Tomahawks from ground-based platforms. The USS Missouri, a World War II-era battleship and the very last of its kind, was fitted to fire Tomahawks during the opening salvos of the First Gulf War. It fired a total of 28 cruise missiles, in addition to its 16-inch deck guns.

The submarines USS Louisville and USS Pittsburgh launched Tomahawks in 1991 at targets in Iraq and became the first submarines to fire Tomahawks while submerged.

Several decades of service

Outside of the Gulf War, Tomahawks were used to attack Iraq several more times in the 1990s, against Bosnian targets in 1995, during NATO actions against Yugoslavia, and during the engagements against Afghanistan after 9/11. More recently, Tomahawks saw use in Libya as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, ISIS in Syria experienced the effects of Tomahawks, and Syrian chemical weapons facilities used by despot Bashar Al-Assad were struck by Tomahawks in 2017. In 2024, both American and British forces launched Tomahawks against Houthi rebels after the rebel group attacked shipping lanes and US-flagged vessels in the Red Sea.

Raytheon reports that the Tomahawk missile could stay in service until at least 2035. By that time, the cruise missile will have eclipsed 50 years of service. With its long range, ability to be launched practically anywhere in the world from above or below the waves, and its accuracy, the Tomahawk has proved literally thousands of times that it is a vital part of the arsenals of the U.S. Navy and the Royal Navy.

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What Is a Tomahawk Missile?

By: Martin Stezano

Updated: August 30, 2018 | Original: April 7, 2017

History of the Tomahawk cruise missile

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is an American-developed weapon classified as a cruise missile, which is an unmanned jet-propelled aircraft that uses guidance systems to seek and destroy targets.

The missiles are approximately 21 feet long, weigh 1.5 tons and can be launched from both traditional torpedo tubes and vertical launch tubes on modern submarines. Once the Tomahawk is in the air, the turbojet engine kicks in and its wings spread, allowing it to reach speeds of 500 miles per hour.

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.

What sets the Tomahawk apart from other types of munitions is that combination of size, speed, distance and trajectory. Traditional saturation bombing–in which hundreds of bombs are dropped from a plane–is powerful, but not accurate. Saturation bombing also requires the use of a pilot and crew, which endangers personnel. Ballistic missiles, like the Scud, can travel greater distances at faster speeds, but require much bigger launching pads and a lot more fuel, meaning they can’t be used as covertly The Tomahawk is smaller and flies lower than other missiles, making them harder to detect and intercept.

Development of what would become the Tomahawk began in the 1940s, but the emergence of the Polaris ballistic missile program led to its shelving. Technological advances made it possible for the missile to be revisited in the 1970s, and the new weapon was introduced by defense contractor McConnell Douglas in 1983.

Initially, there were three types of Tomahawk missile: an anti-ship one with conventional warheads, and two land-attack versions with either nuclear or conventional warheads attached. Today, only the land-attack, conventional non-nuclear version is in use. Improvements have been made on the original design, and today’s more accurate and more powerful versions are manufactured by Raytheon.

The Tomahawk Missile in Use

The Tomahawk made its debut in live combat during the Persian Gulf War in 1991. On January 17, the USS Paul F. Foster launched the first Tomahawk missile, and nearly 300 additional missiles were launched from U.S. Navy ships and submarines in subsequent days of the conflict. The new weapon proved instrumental in bringing a swift end to the war.

Production of the missile ramped up after that, and hundreds of Tomahawks were used throughout the 1990s. On December 16, 1998, 415 missiles were fired at Iraqi targets during Operation Desert Fox, after Saddam Hussein refused to abide by United Nations-mandated inspections. They were also used by NATO forces in early 1999, during Operation Allied Force operations against targets in Serbia and Montenegro. More than 800 Tomahawks were launched during the 2003 invasion of Iraq, and other successful deployments include Afghanistan, Somalia and Libya.

Use of the missile has not been without controversy. On December 17, 2009, 41 civilians–mostly women and children–were killed by missiles targeting an alleged Al-Qaeda training camp in Yemen. Although U.S. and Yemeni government officials initially denied responsibility, an investigation by Amnesty International—and revelations by WikiLeaks—eventually concluded that the missiles had been American Tomahawks launched from a naval vessel.

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Tomahawk at a Glance

Tomahawk Development

The U.S. Navy began its development of sea-launched cruise missiles in 1972. 2 The Tomahawk was designed to fly at subsonic speed while maintaining a low altitude, making it difficult to detect on radar. It uses tailored guidance systems to maneuver while at such low elevations.

There were three original Tomahawk designs, the nuclear-tipped TLAM-N, the ground-launched Gryphon, and the conventional TASM.

BGM-109G Gryphon

In late 1970s, the U.S. Navy sought a precision land attack cruise missile capable of a much smaller CEP. Two Block II versions were produced; the TLAM-C and the TLAM-D.

Service History

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.

However, before GPS guidance was implemented, the Tomahawk faced serious navigation issues in 2003’s Operation Iraqi Freedom. Due to the indistinct desert terrain in region, the missile’s TERCOM system was not adequate to guide the missile to its targets in Iraq. 19 Approximately ten Tomahawks drifted off course and crashed (”clobbered”) into the ground in Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Iran in the initial phase of Iraqi Freedom. 20

• “Tomahawk Cruise Missile,” United States Navy Fact File, August 14, 2014, http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&tid=1300&ct=2
• “Tomahawk Cruise Missile,” United States Navy Fact File, August 14, 2014, http://www.navy.mil/navydata/fact_display.asp?cid=2200&tid=1300&ct=2.
• Sam LaGrone, “West: U.S. Navy Anti-Ship Tomahawk Set for Surface Ships, Subs Starting in 2021,” USNI News , February 18, 2016, https://news.usni.org/2016/02/18/west-u-s-navy-anti-ship-tomahawk-set-for-surface-ships-subs-starting-in-2021.
• “Tomahawk Long-Range Cruise Missile,” Naval Technology, http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/tomahawk-long-range-cruise-missile/.
• “RGM/UGM-109 Tomahawk,” in IHS Jane’s Weapons: Strategic 2015-2016, ed. James C. O’Halloran (United Kingdom: IHS, 2015), 219-223.
• “General Dynamics/McDonnell Douglas BGM-109G Gryphon” National Museum of the Air Force, April 26, 2011.http://www.nationalmuseum.af.mil/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=18194.
• Missile Defense Project, “Tomahawk,” Missile Threat, Center for Strategic and International Studies, September 19, 2016, last modified June 15, 2018, https://missilethreat.csis.org/missile/tomahawk/ .
• Fuller, Malcolm. “Tomahawk/RGM/UGM-109B/C/D/E” Jane’s Weapons: Naval. December 17, 2012.
• Department of the Navy, Naval Vessel Historical Evaluation – Paul F. Foster Final Determination (Washington, DC: 2013), https://www.navsea.navy.mil/Portals/103/Documents/TeamShips/SEA21/InactiveShips/Historic/2013/EDD964-Paul-F.-Foster-Final-DOI.pdf.
• “The Tomahawk Missile’s First Mission Was Over…Iran?,” War on the Rocks, April 6, 2015, https://warisboring.com/the-tomahawk-missile-s-first-mission-was-over-iran/.
• Jeffrey Lewis, ”Why the Navy Should Retire TLAM-N,” Arms Control Wonk (blog), December 13, 2009, https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/202560/why-the-navy-should-retire-tlam-n/.
• “What is a Tomahawk Missile?” History.com, April 7, 2017, https://www.history.com/news/what-is-a-tomahawk-missile.
• NBC News, “U.S. Launches Missiles at Syrian Base Over Chemical Weapons Attack,” NBC News, April 7, 2017, http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/u-s-launches-missiles-syrian-base-after-chemical-weapons-attack-n743636.

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The US Navy has an upgraded Tomahawk: Here’s 5 things you should know

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Navy test-fired its new Block V Tomahawk from the destroyer Chafee in December, introducing the newest generation of the venerable Tomahawk cruise missile to its arsenal.

The modifications are designed to bring the sub-sonic cruise missile into the era of great power competition . Why is this Tomahawk different from all other Tomahawks, and can this old Cold Warrior keep up in the era of hypersonic missiles?

Here’s five things to know about the Block V:

1. Increased capabilities. Raytheon’s Tomahawk Block V, when fully realized in its Block Va and Block Vb varieties, will be expected to hit surface ships at Tomahawk ranges – in excess of 1,000 miles – with the integration of a new seeker. It also will integrate a new warhead that will have a broader range of capabilities, including greater penetrating power.

Tomahawk’s range is especially important in the Asia-Pacific, where China’s rocket force has extraordinary reach with its DF-26 and DF-21 missiles, with ranges of 2,490 and 1,335 miles respectively, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. The missiles are destined not just for the VLS launchers of surface ships but also on attack submarines . Read more here:

The US Navy is moving to put more ship-killer missiles on submarines

Us navy submarines will soon be able to kill ships at a range of 1,000 miles..

2. More survivable. The first iteration of the Block V upgrades the missile’s communication and navigation systems. This is about making it tougher to counter and detect electronically, said Bryan Clark, a retired submarine officer and senior fellow at The Hudson Institute.

“It has greater electronic hardening to be able to work through jamming more effectively,” Clark said. “The hardening and the electronic countermeasures they’ve put into it make it harder to find and target with radar, and that improves its survivability.

“They’ve incorporated a lot of survivability into Tomahawk over the years, this takes it a step further to make it less susceptible to jamming of its seeker or its communications. But it could, perhaps, also counter enemy radar that might be used to target it and shoot it down.”

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 .

3. Subsonic is a feature, not a bug. 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.

But there are good reasons to keep producing the Tomahawk, even with its slower speeds.

“The benefit of the sub-sonic missile is range,” Clark said. “Being sub-sonic means its also able to travel at a more fuel-efficient speed. So, the fact that the Tomahawk can travel more than 1,000 miles is a function of the sub-sonic speed. To get that kind of range out of a super-sonic missile you’d need something much larger.”

Sailors on the destroyer Barry train on planning a Tomahawk mission. (Navy)

4. It’s cheap. Well, relatively so. The missile has been able to stay at the $1 million price range, which is on the low end for missiles. Raytheon’s supersonic SM-6 can reach speeds of Mach 3.5 – with future iterations believed to be capable of reaching hypersonic speeds – but cost more than four times as much per shot and have less range. That’s the Tomahawk’s key differentiator, said Jerry Hendrix, a retired Navy captain and analyst with Telemus Group.

“The key capability of Tomahawk is the cost.” Hendrix said. “It can be purchased in larger quantities and you can afford to lose some to defensive capabilities even as you penetrate. That’s one of the reasons why Tomahawk is going to be in the inventory for a while to come, even as it brings back that longer-range anti-ship capability that we’ve been missing for some time.”

Tom Karako, an expert in missile technology with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, agreed that cost is a big advantage of Tomahawk, especially for low-end missions.

“As long as they can keep them to about a million dollars per shot, the Navy is going to want those all day long,” Karako said. “The next time the President says to the Navy, ‘Hey, go schwack this terrorist training camp,’ they’re going to want Tomahawks.”

5. It’s all in the mix. The key to thinking about a sub-sonic cruise missile is understanding how it fits into a mix of weapons, Karako said. Not everything is going to be hypersonic or even supersonic, nor does it have to be, he argued, but the cost per salvo make it attractive as part of a varied and complex threat to present an adversary.

“The question is, ‘What’s the going to be the mix between hypersonic things and things that are supersonic and subsonic?’,” he said. “That, I think, is the right question. As long as you have standoff, subsonic and supersonic are going to be part of the equation.”

“Even for the high-end fight, I don’t think the hypersonic stuff will fully replace sub-sonic stuff. It might just mean you shoot your sub-sonic stuff earlier, let them fly for a while and everything arrives at the same time as part of how you structure an attack.”

The destroyer Dewey conducts a tomahawk missile flight test while underway in the western Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by MC2 Devin Langer)

Clark, the Hudson analyst, agreed that the mix was important, saying that even with the arrival of faster missiles, the Tomahawk has a place.

The combination of the SM-6, which has a surface strike mode, the new 100-plus-mile ranged anti-ship Naval Strike Missile bound for the littoral combat ships and next-generation frigate, and the Block V upgrades on Tomahawk, will give the Navy’s venerable birds a place in the service’s vertical launch system cells for some time to come, Clark said.

“Between Tomahawk Block V, the SM-6 and the NSM, the Navy has a collection of attack weapons that they are happy with,” he said, adding that a long-running effort to develop a next-generation land-attack weapon has lost some of its urgency.

The development of hypersonic missiles could, however, push out the Tomahawk down the road as the technology gets more advanced and of a size compatible with the Navy’s ubiquitous Mark 41 VLS launcher.

“What’s happening in parallel is in the development of hypersonic missile that are a smaller form factor than the boost-glide weapons that are coming to maturity now,” Clark said. “And if they can get it down to being able to fit in [the Mark 41], then that could provide the Navy a next-generation capability that is more survivable and has a shorter time of flight.

“So I think this combination of missiles the Navy has now, combined with the fact that the hypersonic weapons are coming along a little further out, means the Navy is going to stick with what it has potentially even longer than it had originally anticipated.”

David B. Larter was the naval warfare reporter for Defense News.

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Tomahawk Long-Range Cruise Missile

Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile in service with the surface ships and submarines of the US and the UK’s Royal Navy.

Long-range subsonic cruise missile

Manufacturer

US Navy and Royal Navy

Williams International F415 cruise turbo-fan

Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile in service with the surface ships and submarines of the US and the UK’s Royal Navy. Originally produced by General Dynamics, Tomahawk is currently manufactured by Raytheon.

The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) can strike high-value or heavily defended land targets. The Block II TLAM-A missile achieved initial operating capability in 1984. The missile was first deployed in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

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The Tomahawk family of missiles includes a number of variants, carrying different warheads. The UGM-109A Tomahawk (Block II TLAM-A) carries a W80 nuclear warhead.

RGM / UGM-109C (Block III TLAM-C) is a conventional unitary variant, carrying a 1,000lb-class warhead. RGM / UGM-109D (Block III TLAM-D) is a submunitions dispenser variant armed with 166 combined-effects bomblets.

RGM / UGM-109E Tomahawk (Block IV TLAM-E) is the latest member in the Tomahawk missile family. It carries a 1,000lb-class unitary warhead for a maximum range of 900nmi.

The Tomahawk Block IV missiles were converted and upgraded to Block V in 2017. The upgraded Tomahawk includes extended range, enhanced navigation and communication systems and modernised data-link radio.

The upgrades were performed at Raytheon’s Tucson, Arizona facility. The US Navy will use the upgraded Tomahawk cruise missiles beyond 2040. Raytheon was contracted to integrate the upgraded navigation and communication systems into the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM) missile in March 2020. The upgraded version is known as the Block V TACTOM.

The Block Va variants will be named Maritime Strike and have the capability of hitting a moving target. The Block Vb will feature the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System.

Tomahawk design features

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.

The missile carries a nuclear or conventional payload. It can be armed with a nuclear or unitary warhead or a conventional submunitions dispenser with combined-effect bomblets. The missile has a 5.56m length, 51.8cm diameter and a 2.67m wingspan. The weight of the missile is 1,315kg. It has a life span of 30 years.

The Tomahawk weapon system includes the Tomahawk missile, Theatre Mission Planning Centre (TMPC) / Afloat Planning System and the Tomahawk weapon control system (TWCS) for surface vessels or combat control system (CCS) for submarines.

Guidance and control

The Tomahawk Block IV uses GPS navigation and a satellite data-link to continue through a pre-set course. The missile can be reprogrammed in-flight to a new target.

The two-way satellite communications are used to perform post-launch mission changes throughout the flight. The on-board camera provides imagery of the target to the commanders before the strike.

The guidance system is assisted by Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM). The Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system or GPS provide terminal guidance.

The Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) integrated within the ship’s systems computes the path to engage targets. The system enables the planning of new missions on board the launch vessel. TTWCS is also used to communicate with multiple missiles for reassigning the targets and redirecting the missiles in flight.

The Block IV Tomahawk missile is outfitted with advanced electronic support measure (ESM) seeker in Block IV Tomahawk missile. Its joint multi-effects warhead enables the commander to control the blast.

The Tomahawk Block IV missile is powered by a Williams International F415 cruise turbo-fan engine and ARC MK 135 rocket motor. The propulsion provides a subsonic speed of 880km/h.

Tomahawk launch platforms

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.

US Navy launch platforms were modified to accommodate upgraded Tomahawk missile variants. Four Ohio class nuclear ballistic missile submarines were converted into cruise missile submarines for firing Tomahawk missiles. The Virginia class submarines and the Royal Navy Astute class submarines were also fitted with new vertical launch modules for Tomahawk missile.

Tomahawk orders and deliveries

The US signed a foreign military sales (FMS) agreement with the UK in 1995 to supply 65 Tomahawks for use with the Royal Navy nuclear submarines. The first batch of missiles was delivered in 1998.

The US Government approved an agreement in 2003 to deliver 65 Tomahawk Block IV missiles for the UK. In August 2004, the US Navy placed a $1.6bn multi-year procurement contract with Raytheon for 2,200 Tomahawk Block IV missiles.

Raytheon was awarded a $346m production contract for 473 Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles in March 2006. The contract includes 65 submarine torpedo tube-launched missiles for the Royal Navy. The Block IV entered service with the Royal Navy in March 2008.

Raytheon was awarded a $207m-worth firm-fixed-price contract in March 2009 for 207 Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round (AUR) missiles.

The 2,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in February 2010.

The US Navy placed a $338m contract with Raytheon in June 2012 for the delivery of 361 Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missiles. Another contract worth $254.6m was awarded for Tomahawk Block IV in the same year.

Raytheon delivered the 3,000th Tomahawk Block IV to the US Navy in January 2014 as part of the ninth Block IV production contract.

The US Navy awarded a $251m contract to Raytheon for the production and delivery of Tomahawk Block IV missiles for both the US Navy and Royal Navy in September 2014.

A $25.9m contract for Tomahawk missile composite capsule launching systems (C/CLS) was awarded in December 2014. The C/CLS is integrated with the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines and nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, allowing the missile to be launched from submarines.

Tomahawk Block IV missile demonstrated its moving target capability in tests conducted in February 2015.

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 4,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in August 2017. The US Navy warships and submarines launched 66 GPS-enabled Tomahawk missiles at Syrian chemical weapon facilities in 2018.

Raytheon planned to undertake recertification and modernisation programmes for Tomahawk Block IV missile in 2019 to add maritime strike capability and multiple-effects warhead upgrades to the missiles.

Raytheon received a $349m contract for phase two of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk Rapid Deployment Capability to improve the Tomahawk cruise missile system in August 2019. Work will be executed in various locations across the US until February 2023.

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FYI: What Are Cruise Missiles, And How Do They Work?

Everything you ever wanted to know about this retro-'90s weapon, which the Obama administration might use against Syria's government.

By Kelsey D. Atherton | Published Aug 29, 2013 9:45 PM EDT

The Obama administration is considering what sort of military action to take, if any, against the government of Syrian President Bashar al Assad, which stands accused of using chemical weapons against its own people. The most likely option : a cruise missile strike against assorted military and government sites, like the presidential palace and chemical munitions facilities. Here’s a primer on cruise missiles.

What are cruise missiles? Cruise missiles are fast-moving, guided bombs that soar at a very low trajectory, parallel to the ground. They are distinct from regular (non-cruise) missiles primarily because they go really far. They are also distinct from drones, because they do not have on-the-ground pilots–instead, they fly a pre-set path–and you can only use them once. Germany used the first cruise missile in World War II. Called V-1s, after Vergeltung , the [German word for retribution, they were fired from sites in northern France and aimed at London. The idea behind the V-1, which is the core idea behind all cruise missiles since, is to attack from far away without needing a pilot to control it.

How do cruise missiles work?

All cruise missiles have an internal guidance system, though the types vary. The Tomahawk cruise missile , which the U.S. Navy has deployed since 1984, uses a system called “Terrain Contour Matching,” where an altimeter and an inertia detector plot the flight path against a pre-loaded terrain contour map. Later versions of the Tomahawk also use GPS, and there are other guidance systems that some cruise missiles use.

Cruise missiles all have basically the same parts : an engine, often a jet with an air intake, propels the missile through the air. There’s a spot for fuel, and a spot for the warhead, or explosive carried inside. Both cruise missiles pictured below were designed to carry nuclear warheads, but most cruise missiles, and all that have actually been used in war, carry conventional, non-nuclear explosives. The front end of a cruise missile usually has a guidance system. Cruise missiles, with wings and engines, often resemble pilot-less planes.

Cruise missiles can be launched by airplanes, submarines, ships, or from launching vehicles on land. Besides the United States, more than 70 nations have cruise missiles.

Snark Missile

Has the United States used cruise missiles before?

Oh, yeah. If the drone is the signature weapon of the 2000s and 2010s, cruise missiles were the go-to in the 1990s. Deadly, launched from far away, and without a pilot on board, they promised to destroy enemies without risking American casualties. Here are three American cruise missile strikes from the 1990s:

In 1993, Kuwaiti authorities foiled a plot by Iraqi Intelligence services to assassinate former President George H.W. Bush. In retaliation, President Bill Clinton ordered the firing of 23 cruise missiles at Iraqi intelligence headquarters. In 1998, President Bill Clinton ordered a cruise missile strike against the El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries plant in Sudan, under the assumption that it was a chemical weapons plant. Also in 1998, Clinton ordered troops to fire cruise missiles at Osama bin Laden in the Khost province of Afghanistan. Both of these 1998 attempts were retaliation for the bombing of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

What were the consequences?

Following the 1993 strike, Iraq and the United States existed in a state of simmering hostility for the next decade. America (together with the United Kingdom and, for some of the time, France) imposed a “no-fly-zone” over the country, to prevent Iraqi’s government from attacking Kurds in the north and Shi’ites in the south. The no-fly-zone was deeply problematic: Iraqi anti-air missiles occasionally fired at American aircraft overhead, and Americans bombed Iraqi anti-air missile sites in return. It only ended with the overthrow of Saddam Hussein following the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Tensions and violence in Iraq persist to this day.

The El Shifa Pharmaceutical Industries destroyed by the United States in 1998 was in fact actually just a pharmaceutical plant. The ruins were left untouched and now serve as a shrine to American incompetence .

The cruise missile strike in Khost failed to kill Osama bin Laden; a mission that would take 13 more years, a ground invasion of Afghanistan, a decade-long man-hunt, and a special kill team of Navy SEALS to complete. From the National Security Archives, there is also evidence that “the strikes not only failed to hurt Osama bin Laden but ultimately may have brought al-Qaeda and the Taliban closer politically and ideologically.”

Advanced Cruise Missile

What are cruise missiles’ limitations?

A 2000 report by the U.S. Air Force on Tomahawk cruise missiles notes several limitations:

Although the consensus is that Tomahawks are a highly successful weapon, these weapons have several limitations. One of these is that their flight paths are relatively predictable, which is a function of the fact that some terrain, notably deserts, provides relatively few features for terrain following guidance. A second problem is that mission planning for terrain following guidance systems is more time consuming and complicated in terms of intelligence requirements than one might expect. For example, to use Tomahawks a unit would have to request a targeting package from such agencies as the Defense Mapping Agency to gather the data necessary for a mission. A third limitation was that Tomahawks could not be used against hardened targets because the 1,000 pound warhead, the weapon’s accuracy, and its final kinetic energy when it hits the target do not produce high probabilities of kill. The final limitation was that Tomahawk cruise missiles cannot attack moving targets because they are guided to a position rather than to a specific target. Similarly, a Tomahawk cruise missile could not attack relocatable, that is mobile, targets because these may move while the mission is being planned or during the flight of the cruise missile.

Since then, cruise missile guidance systems have improved, but the overall limitations of the weapon system remain. The weapon requires good intelligence and good maps to hit the target. It also needs the enemy to stay in one, relatively vulnerable place.

Will the U.S. use cruise missiles in Syria?

It’s not entirely clear. More certain is that idea that drones won’t be used. Drones are great at tracking individuals from safe skies. But Syria’s government has anti-aircraft weapons, which can easily shoot down drones. Cruise missiles, instead, fly faster, hit harder, and instead of hunting individuals take aim at big, fixed targets like military bases or palaces. Also, the United States has a lot of cruise missiles near Syria, and very few available drones.

Several publications, including the New York Times , Los Angeles Times , and the Wall Street Journal expect the U.S. to use cruise missiles if the Obama administration does order strikes. Anonymous senior U.S. officials told NBC that a three-day cruise missile barrage against the Assad regime is possible. Of course, there’s no guarantee that strikes will happen at all. Yesterday, President Obama said he had not made a decision on whether to intervene in Syria.

Launching cruise missiles feels like a strong military action for a president to take, but it’s very unlikely to be a decisive one.

Kelsey D. Atherton is a military technology journalist who has contributed to Popular Science since 2013. He covers uncrewed robotics and other drones, communications systems, the nuclear enterprise, and the technologies that go into planning, waging, and mitigating war.

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A Short History of Cruise Missiles: The Go-To Weapons for Conventional Precision Strikes

The slow, stubby-winged cruise missile has become a major part of modern warfare. This is its story.

• They’re not like other missiles; instead, cruise missiles work more like drones.
• Ironically, the inspiration for the first cruise missiles involved pilots—the infamous kamikazes of World War II .

One weapon that establishes a military power in a completely different category from the rest is the cruise missile. Originally designed to deliver nuclear weapons at long distances, it’s become the go-to weapon for conventional precision strikes, and is currently front and center in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But as the cruise missile is now in its fifth decade of use, there are signs it’ll need some adjustments to stay relevant on the modern battlefield .

Divine Wind

A cruise missile is a subsonic guided missile that uses a turbojet, a smaller version of the jet engines that power today’s airplanes , to reach its targets. Cruise missiles often have small, stubby wings to allow them to bank and turn, following an invisible flight path in the sky. Modern cruise missiles use satellite navigation to guide themselves to target, and some can even take pictures of the target area, allowing operators to retarget them in midair. The missile’s payload is typically a warhead in the 1,000-pound weight class, often with the ability to penetrate earth and concrete to target underground shelters.

The first cruise missiles were Japan’s kamikaze planes of World War II. The kamikaze, or “divine wind,” was part of the Japanese Special Attack Units. Created out of desperation and meant to curb the inexorable advance of U.S. forces across the Pacific, kamikaze pilots were sent on one-way missions to target ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The planes were loaded with explosives, and the pilots flew low and fast to avoid detection until the last possible moment.

Kamikaze missions were incredibly successful. In the first four months of their use, an estimated 34 percent of all kamikazes reached their targets. Much of their success is likely attributable to American forces’ disbelief that pilots could commit suicide for their mission. But the low-flying mission profile and the pilot’s ability to recognize threats and avoid them were also undoubtedly factors. In the 1970s, when U.S. military planners originally conceived of the cruise missile, the kamikazes were likely not far from anyone’s mind.

How Cruise Missiles Work

Cruise missiles were originally designed to carry nuclear weapons long distances, allowing bombers to strike their targets without entering the range of an adversary’s air-defense weapons. Conventional rocket-powered missiles didn’t fit the bill: rocket engines are designed to provide speed, and burn up fuel quickly. A cruise missile would need an enormous rocket engine to reach a distant target, with the result being a missile so big only a few would be able to fit inside a bomber.

Instead of rockets, engineers took a different tack: small turbofan engines that burn jet fuel. Turbofan engines are much more efficient, allowing a 21-foot-long missile to carry enough fuel to fly 1,000 miles, plus a 1,000-pound high-explosive warhead (or W-80 thermonuclear warhead ) and a guidance system. The downside was that a turbofan-powered cruise missile could not fly particularly fast, just about 500 miles per hour.

A subsonic cruise missile flying a straight flight path and unable to take evasive action would prove easy meat to any enemy interceptor that happened upon it. The first modern cruise missile, the American-made Tomahawk , was designed to fly low, less than 100 meters above the ground. This limited the range at which ground-based radars could detect a cruise missile, as radar waves conform to the curvature of Earth. This also frustrated enemy fighters, whose nose-mounted radars found it difficult to pick out a cruise missile against the clutter created by the ground below. While cruise missiles were too slow to become first-strike weapons, they were effective for retaliatory strikes against heavily defended airspace.

Early Tomahawk cruise missiles followed a pre-programmed flight path to target using a system called terrain contour matching (TERCOM). In TERCOM , a radar altimeter scans the terrain below the missile, then compares it to a terrain elevation map stored in its onboard computer brain. If the two match, the missile is on the right flight path; if they don’t match, the missile adjusts course. Programming TERCOM for a long-range mission was a notoriously time-consuming process, and had to be done at a computer terminal.

As the Tomahawk neared its target, it switched over to a completely different navigation system: digital scene matching and area correlation ( DSMAC ). DSMAC used an optical sensor that took pictures of the ground and compared them to actual sites on the final route to the target. Together, TERCOM and DSMAC delivered unheard of accuracy, allowing Tomahawks to fly hundreds of miles and strike specific parts of land targets, even specific parts of buildings.

More recent cruise missiles, including newer versions of the Tomahawk, have done away with the old navigation systems in favor of using GPS to guide themselves to a fixed target. This has had the effect of making an already accurate missile even more accurate—reportedly to within 32 feet of a target. The Tomahawk Block IV version, introduced in the 2010s, included a camera that could send back imagery to the missile’s controllers, allowing a missile to be re-tasked in midair if its target was already destroyed. Block Va, the latest version, adds the ability to target and attack moving ships at sea.

The Tomahawk missile was the first cruise missile fired in anger. U.S. Navy warships fired a total of 288 Tomahawks during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Tomahawk missiles have also been fired at Bosnia, Sudan, Syria , Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Afghanistan. U.S. and U.K. forces have delivered just over 2,000 Tomahawk missiles against operational targets, with more than half against Iraq.

In recent years, other countries have also used cruise missiles in combat. In October 2017, Russia began cruise missile strikes against so-called terrorist targets in Syria. These Novator 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles are very similar to Tomahawk missiles, but use Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation system, an alternative to the American GPS. Russia has launched a steady stream of air- and sea-launched cruise missiles against Ukraine since the early hours of the invasion on February 24, 2022 , but a shrinking missile stockpile has led to the attacks becoming less frequent, supplemented by Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

The war in Ukraine has also seen the use of two European cruise missiles, the U.K.’s Storm Shadow and the French SCALP missile . The two are essentially the same, with a 340-mile range and 990-pound warhead. The missiles donated to Ukraine are launched from specially modified Su-24 Soviet-era strike jets . Storm Shadow/SCALP was also used against the Khaddafi regime in Libya in 2011, ISIS in 2015, and by Saudi Arabia against Yemeni rebels in 2016.

The Russo-Ukrainian War has also confirmed an important, long suspected fact: low-flying, subsonic cruise missiles are vulnerable to man-portable surface-to-air missiles. In 2022, a Ukrainian National Guardsman was filmed shooting down a Russian cruise missile with an Igla surface-to-air missile. It was the first known case of a shoulder-fired missile, typically carried by infantry, shooting down a multi-million dollar cruise missile. How this event will affect future cruise missiles remains to be seen.

The Takeaway

Cruise missiles have dramatically changed warfare, as one might expect from a weapon that can fly 1,000 miles and deliver a half-ton high-explosive warhead within 32 feet of a target. The missiles allow countries that can afford them the ability to execute precision strikes on heavily defended targets without endangering pilots or aircraft.

The war in Ukraine will likely impart lessons on the next generation of cruise missiles , but the platform isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News , and others. He lives in San Francisco.

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Syria Bombing: How Do Tomahawk Missiles Work?

This week, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk missiles to destroy a Syrian airbase in retaliation against the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against its people, according to the Department of Defense.

The missiles, which were launched from ships in the Mediterranean Sea today local time (yesterday in the United States), were targeted at the al-Shayrat Air Base in Homs province, from which the Syrian military is suspected of deploying the planes that carried out the deadly nerve gas attacks this week. But how do these missiles work, and how were they able to precisely target this location without any pilot nearby? [ Killer Chemistry: The Chemical Weapons of World War I ]

Long-range, fast deployment

Tomahawk cruise missiles were first used in Desert Storm in 1991 and have been a popular choice in a number of conflicts, most recently in strikes against Libya in 2011, said Thomas Karako, a senior fellow at the International Security Program, Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.

The main advantage of these missiles is their range; some classes of the weapon can travel up to 1,350 nautical miles (1,550 miles, or 2,500 kilometers), according to the U.S. Navy.

"It has fairly long legs. It doesn't have the speed of some other missiles, but it has a fairly long reach," Karako told Live Science. "Any time there's some defended airspace and the goal is not to put an aircraft pilot in harm's way, you want a longer-range capability."

In this instance, the range allowed the missiles to be fired from a ship in the Mediterranean, which is typical, given that they are carried by submarines or ships, Karako added.

These missiles can also be deployed very quickly, said Chris Harmer, a senior naval analyst with the Middle East Security Project at the Institute for the Study of War, a nonprofit organization that provides military research and analysis.

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"You send an email to the ships saying, 'Send these targets,' you hit a button and it goes," Harmer told Live Science. "With manned aircraft, there's a much longer planning process."

Sophisticated navigation

To navigate, the missiles use a combination of digital scene matching and global positioning system (GPS) to pinpoint their targets with better accuracy. Digital scene matching takes images captured by the missile while in flight toward its target and matches them to images taken prior to the flight, during mission planning, according to a 1994 paper describing digital scene matching from the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which helped design the system. Another aspect of the system's navigation is a tool called terrain contour matching. This system compares images from a previously acquired contour map and compares them with measurements that a radar altimeter makes on board the missile. Based on input for the terrain-matching algorithm, the system can update its inertial navigation system — a set of sensors, such as accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure rotation — to reorient itself.

Tomahawk missiles can also make real-time updates to their position.

"The missile is sending constant emails back to the controlling agency; then the controlling agency can send updated guidance via essentially a data email back to the missile," Harmer said.

If something in the terrain changes or the mission gets canceled, the people monitoring the missile can redirect it with a simple command, Harmer said.

In the past, historical mapping might have been done by a plane on a reconnaissance mission a week earlier, and the military could only hope nothing had changed. Nowadays, because drones and satellite imagery are ubiquitous, "they're taking live updates until the missile hits the target," Harmer said.

The accurate navigation allows the missiles to fly low to the ground, meaning they can fly closer to other objects and often evade radar detection by foreign military. They are also capable of taking a nonlinear route to a target, which makes them well-suited for evading dangerous areas en route to a target, according to the U.S. Navy . Their ability to take a nonlinear route also means multiple missiles can be launched from different locations and all land at the target at the same time, Karako said.

The missiles can also be programmed to loiter in an area without dropping a bomb. In yesterday's attack, all 59 missiles reached the target within 1 second of one another, Harmer said.

Tomahawk missiles are about 18 feet (5.6 meters) long, and can carry up to a 1,000-lb. (450 kilograms) warhead or a group of 166 tiny "bomblets," which are essentially like grenades. Initially, the missile is propelled by its engine. Once it's in flight, its wings unfold, and it can fly at a top speed of 550 mph (880 km/h). The company Raytheon, which manufactures the Tomahawk missiles, is currently developing an updated version of the missile that could have two-way satellite communication with objects on the ground, such as tanks and ships, as well as more robust and sophisticated navigation systems.

In fiscal year 2016, the Navy purchased 214 of the missiles, each of which cost $1.09 million, said Capt. Mark Johnson, program manager for Tomahawk missiles. However, that cost includes past research and development; the "flyaway" cost of a new Tomahawk missile is around $650,000, Harmer said.

Originally published on Live Science .

Tia is the managing editor and was previously a senior writer for Live Science. Her work has appeared in Scientific American, Wired.com and other outlets. She holds a master's degree in bioengineering from the University of Washington, a graduate certificate in science writing from UC Santa Cruz and a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Texas at Austin. Tia was part of a team at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel that published the Empty Cradles series on preterm births, which won multiple awards, including the 2012 Casey Medal for Meritorious Journalism.

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Tomahawk missiles: a modular, incredibly accurate and brutally lethal weapon.

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The Tomahawk missile first joined the US Navy fleet in 1983 and following multiple recertifications, has continued to be an integral weapon for ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. Although it has been frequently employed since its creation, the Tomahawk missile is most notable for its use in the Persian Wars .

Tomahawk Missile’s Feature Some Incredible Capabilities

Priced at approximately $1 million apiece , the Tomahawk missile packs a major punch. It can reach a speed of up to 550 miles per hour, reach a distance of 700 to 1350 nautical miles depending on which variant of the missile is fired, and successfully reach its target even in heavily defended air space.

The missile can carry 160 bomblets, a 1,000-pound conventional warhead, or a W80 nuclear warhead. Using GPS, inertial navigation, and terrain contour matching, the Tomahawk has the ability to hit within ten yards of its intended target. It can also perform evasive maneuvers at extremely low altitudes, allowing it to take out diverse targets and do so without causing much collateral damage.

Tomahawk Missiles are built for Mods

The physical look of the weapon is intended to resemble a “flying torpedo”, which it does nicely. The look of the missile has remained pretty much the same since its beginning. The slim design allows the missile to be compatible with vertical launchers on surface warships as well as torpedo tubes on submarines .

The overall shelf life of the missile is 30 years and requires recertification at the time of expiration. Recertification allows ample opportunity to apply modifications to the missile that increase its lethality while also ensuring that the missile is still ready for combat.

The Tomahawk missile was built with a modular design, which makes internal modifications and upgrades relatively simple. Specifications that work efficiently can remain in the missile, while specifications that need to be replaced are done so without affecting the rest of the internal makeup of the missile.

Block Va/Vb

Block Va allows this variant of the Tomahawk to strike moving targets at sea. It has a new seeker that is capable of accurately identifying and targeting warships as far as 1,000 miles away. This variant brings the US Navy up to speed with Russian and Chinese adversaries that were already equipped with long-range anti-ship munitions.

Block Vb has a joint multi-effects warhead that allows the Tomahawk to hit more diverse land targets. It is a hard-target kill variant that is capable of destroying densely-constructed enemy assets which previously would have required more specialized munitions.

International interest

Beyond its use by the US, the Tomahawk missile has also been used by the United Kingdom’s Royal Navy in a number of operations, and now all Royal Navy fleet submarines are Tomahawk missile capable. Additionally, there had previously been expressed interest in acquiring the missile by countries like Spain, the Netherlands, Canada, and Australia, though many had not followed through with their orders.

U.S. Army Deploys New Missile Launcher to the Philippines

The u.s. army's new mid-range capability / typhon weapon system deploys to the first island chain for the first time..

Aaron-Matthew Lariosa 15 Apr 2024

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. 

Mid-Range Capability, also known as the Typhon Weapon System , is a Lockheed Martin design that takes the naval Mk.41 vertical launch system and modifies it for land-based operations. These launchers form a core component of the U.S. Army’s new Multi-Domain Task Forces (MDTF), which were created to address the wide range of threats faced by Russia and China. The Typhon battery, composed of four launchers, a command center, and associated logistical vehicles, is assigned to the task force’s Strategic Fires Battalion, further comprised of High Mobility Artillery Rocket System (HIMARS) and Dark Eagle Hypersonic batteries. 

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. Air Force C-17 Globemaster.  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. 

Last summer, then-Philippine Army chief Romeo Brawner announced that the Philippines would acquire HIMARS , another U.S. missile system, to bolster its territorial defense capabilities. These acquisitions and modernization plans come amid increased tensions and a series of spats between Manila and Beijing in their territorial disputes South China Sea, particularly on Chinese activities within the Philippine exclusive economic zone.  

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. 

“This is a significant step in our partnership with the Philippines, our oldest treaty ally in the region. We’re grateful to our partners in the Armed Forces of the Philippines and we’re excited to expand our security cooperation as we bring this new capability to Luzon,” Commander of the 1st MDTF, Brig. Gen. Bernard Harrington

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. 

“The MRC deployment aims to enhance Philippine maritime defense capabilities, while bolstering interoperability and readiness within the U.S.-Philippine Alliance,” states the press release.

Questioned as to their role in the largely maritime and air domain of the Indo-Pacific, the U.S. Army highlights Typhon as their contribution to providing fires in a combined effort with other military branches, such as the Marine Corps and Navy. Harrington stated that the system delivered “a credible, land-based maritime strike capability” during the activation ceremony of a second Typhon battery earlier in the year .  

“So ultimately, we strive to deter the next fight. But if this is unsuccessful, I know that this unit stands ready to complete its mission of providing counter maritime capability in the Pacific,” said Lt. Col. Benjamin Blane, commander of 5th Battalion, 3rd Field Artillery Regiment, on what these missile batteries bring for deterrence and capabilities to the region during a ceremony in January.

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SDF begins Tomahawk missile training for FY2025 deployment

Japan's Self-Defense Forces have started training to operate land-based Tomahawk cruise missiles, as the country plans to deploy them from fiscal 2025 in the hope of enhancing deterrence against China and North Korea.

With the help of the U.S. military, the first drills were joined by Maritime Self-Defense Force and Air Self-Defense Force officers and were conducted March 25-29 in the U.S. Navy's base in Yokosuka, southwest of Tokyo, with further exercises to follow, according to U.S. Forces Japan.

The latest exercises "provided participants with a hands-on overview" of the consoles and associated equipment for the U.S.-made weapon's control system, with those who took part given the chance to "execute a simulated generic strike mission scenario," the U.S. Navy said in a press release.

Such drills deliver "the credibility of the deterrence that all of us rely on," U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said after observing the shipboard portion of the training open to the media on the U.S. guided-missile destroyer McCampbell on March 28.

He told reporters the U.S. forces plan to continue providing training to the SDF through the exercises "on a bimonthly basis."

In a statement, Japanese Defense Minister Minoru Kihara welcomed the commencement of the Tomahawk drills, saying that his country is beefing up its "stand-off defense capabilities in order to disrupt and defeat any forces that seek to invade Japan early and from far away."

Japan plans to purchase 400 Tomahawks from the United States over three years from fiscal 2025, starting next April, to obtain "counterstrike capabilities" for hitting military targets in an adversary's territory in cases of emergency.

The close U.S. security ally pledged to acquire the capabilities in its National Security Strategy, updated in 2022, in a major policy shift under its war-renouncing Constitution, amid Beijing's military buildup and the threat posed by Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs.

Of the 400 missiles, 200 are expected to be the latest Tomahawk Block-5 model, while the rest will be the older Block-4 model. Both versions have a strike range of about 1,600 kilometers, and MSDF destroyers will be equipped with them.

Japan was initially planning to buy 400 Block-5 missiles in fiscal 2026 and 2027, but it later decided to go ahead with the purchase a year earlier by switching half of them to Block-4s.

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10 Comments Login to comment

sakurasuki Apr. 14 05:00 pm JST

Where will those missiles directed to?

John Apr. 14 05:50 pm JST

Good. Japan needs a force projection capability.

OssanAmerica Apr. 14 06:32 pm JST

sakurasukiToday  05:00 pm JST Where will those missiles directed to?

Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution limits their use to countries that have or are in process of attacking Japan. The can not be fired against peaceful non provacative countries.

Aoi Azuuri Apr. 14 06:50 pm JST

Strange Japan government buy many old subsonic cruise missiles despite already hypersonic missile era or advance of missile defense system.

WA4TKG Apr. 15 01:40 am JST

TaiwanIsNotChina Apr. 15 01:54 am JST

Aoi AzuuriApr. 14 06:50 pm JST Strange Japan government buy many old subsonic cruise missiles despite already hypersonic missile era or advance of missile defense system.

Speed isn't everything. Stealth is just as good.

Desert Tortoise Apr. 15 04:56 am JST

Not strange at all. Subsonic cruise missiles persist because they hit their targets more reliably, can fly much lower and thus are often harder to detect and engage than the high diving screamers. They also cost a lot less than the screamers, and when salvo size matter being able to afford more missiles with a higher probability of hit is important.

elephant200 Apr. 15 10:19 pm JST

Tomahawk is a very obsoleted weapon of 1980s. The Chinese navy destroyers (052D,055) has sophisticated phase arrayed radar can detect and intercept with weapons onboard. China has received one intact tomahawk after 1998 from Afghanistan. We know this thing very much of their radar signature!

Desert Tortoise Apr. 16 12:24 am JST

Elephant200, the Tomahawk of today is a completely different weapon than the Tomahawk of 1984. There is yet another new iteration coming out now called Block V. If you wish you can read about the new versions of Tomahawk coming out by reading the defense press or poking around the Naval Institute Press website. As a land attack missile Tomahawk remains relevant because it is very hard to detect and not affected by jamming or a lack of a GPS signal. It doesn't have an active seeker so there is nothing for an enemies EW to detect. It looks at the ground and compares what it sees to a map loaded in the missile before it's launched, a technology that pre-dates GPS.

TaiwanIsNotChina Apr. 16 01:25 am JST

elephant200Apr. 15 10:19 pm JST Tomahawk is a very obsoleted weapon of 1980s. The Chinese navy destroyers (052D,055) has sophisticated phase arrayed radar can detect and intercept with weapons onboard. China has received one intact tomahawk after 1998 from Afghanistan. We know this thing very much of their radar signature!

Yes, and Chinese lasers will take all of the US missiles out of the sky. We will believe it when we see it.

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U.S. deploys midrange missile system in Indo-Pacific for first time

The U.S. Army has deployed its new Typhon midrange ground-based missile launcher to the Indo-Pacific region for the first time, for joint military exercises in the northern Philippines — a move likely to unnerve China.

“In a historic first, the 1st Multi-Domain Task Force successfully deployed the Mid-Range Capability (MRC) missile system to Northern Luzon, Philippines, on April 11, 2024, as part of Exercise Salaknib 24,” the statement said. “This landmark deployment marks a significant milestone for the new capability while enhancing interoperability, readiness, and defense capabilities in coordination with the Armed Forces of the Philippines.”

While the army did not give an exact location where the launcher was deployed for the exercises, the U.S. military currently has access to five different sites on the island of Luzon, the Philippine archipelago's largest and most populous island.

Considering that Tomahawk missiles have a range of more than 1,600 kilometers, any deployment there would cover not only the entire Luzon Strait, the launcher could also hit portions of the Chinese coast as well as various People’s Liberation Army bases in the disputed South China Sea and its periphery.

Gen. Charles Flynn, the U.S. Army’s commanding general in the Pacific, recently reiterated comments he made in December that the United States would deploy an intermediate-range missile launcher to the region.

“I’m not going to discuss what system and I’m not going to say where and when,” Flynn was quoted as saying on April 3. “I’m just saying that there will be a long-range precision fire capability that will come to the region.”

He did not disclose the name of the system, but was believed to be referring to the Typhon.

China has said that any formal deployment of longer-range missiles to the Indo-Pacific would represent a “dangerous trend” and prompt a strong response from Beijing.

"China firmly opposes this and will take resolute countermeasures,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian told a news conference Friday . “We urge the United States to genuinely respect the security concerns of other countries and stop undermining regional peace and stability.”

The U.S. Army said last year that it had conducted a number of successful tests of the system, which has four trailer-based launchers and other supporting equipment, with the Tomahawk and SM-6 missiles. When employing SM-6 missiles, which the U.S. military says are its only real defense against highly maneuverable hypersonic weapons, the system could also be used in a defensive manner.

Although Japan has frequently been mentioned as a possible host for the system, deployment is unlikely amid difficulties in securing public understanding. Fielding them in the country would effectively make the deployment sites a target of China’s own powerful missile arsenal.

Asked about the possibility of a temporary deployment to Japan, Defense Ministry press secretary Akira Mogi told a news conference Tuesday that while improving the deterrence and response capabilities of the U.S.-Japan alliance "is a very important issue" amid the current security environment surrounding Japan, the ministry "is not aware of any plan to temporarily deploy a ground-launched intermediate-range missile system in the country."

Still, temporary transfers to Japan for training remain a possibility, U.S. officials have hinted.

A more permanent deployment of the system to the region could potentially be the U.S. territory of Guam, home to a sprawling military base. Such a move would be the first since the Cold War, and would come as China continues to build up its stockpile of potent missiles capable of striking U.S. military bases in Japan and across the Pacific.

Under the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) between the U.S. and the then-Soviet Union, all land-based missiles, conventional and nuclear, that could travel between 500 km and 5,500 km (310 miles and 3,400 miles) had been banned. But the U.S. bolted from the INF in 2019, claiming that the Russians had been secretly testing and fielding missiles that violated the pact.

According to the Pentagon’s latest annual report on the Chinese military , Beijing — which was not part of the INF Treaty — is estimated to have 1,850 missiles with a range of 1,000 km to 5,500 km.

Proponents have said that deploying the system to Guam or possibly as part of rotational, shorter-term deployments to or near the United States’ Asian allies, could help bolster deterrence against China as it flexes its military muscle near self-ruled Taiwan and in the South China Sea.

But critics have warned that such a move would also force China to ramp up building its already potent missile and nuclear forces in response, pushing Washington and Beijing ever closer to a conflict that both say they are working to avoid.

In a time of both misinformation and too much information, quality journalism is more crucial than ever. By subscribing, you can help us get the story right.

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U.S. Intercepts Dozens of Iranian Drones and Missiles Aimed at Israel

Britain’s defense secretary said British jets were prepared to intercept Iranian attacks. France and Germany expressed support.

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By Gaya Gupta and Emma Bubola

• April 13, 2024

The U.S. military said that it had shot down dozens of the drones and missiles that Iran fired at Israel on Saturday, a strong demonstration that despite recent criticism of Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, Washington was firmly committed to protecting a key ally from Iran, a mutual adversary.

President Biden said that the United States had “helped Israel take down nearly all of the incoming drones and missiles,” in part thanks to aircraft and military ships the Pentagon had moved to the region in the past week.

While Mr. Biden has grown increasingly vocal in his frustration with Israel’s military offensive in Gaza — calling its bombardment there “indiscriminate” and saying that Israel has not done enough to protect Palestinian civilians — he has maintained that when it comes to Iran, the United States’ commitment to Israel is “ironclad.”

“We will support Israel and help defend Israel,” he said, “and Iran will not succeed.”

The United States has consistently affirmed Israel’s right to defend itself, and it has also directly intervened militarily against attacks from Iran’s proxy forces, including the Houthi militia based in Yemen .

This year, the U.S. military carried out strikes against Iranian forces and allied militias in Syria and Iraq in response to a drone attack in Jordan that killed three American soldiers. And in 2020, the United States killed a top Iranian commander , Maj. Gen. Qassim Suleimani, with a drone strike at Baghdad International Airport in Iraq.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak confirmed that Britain had helped defend Israel against the Iranian attack, saying that Britain’s air force had shot down “a number of Iranian attack drones” and would now work with allies to de-escalate tensions. “What we now need is for calm heads to prevail,” Mr. Sunak told the BBC on Sunday.

Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, Israel’s chief military spokesman, said that Israel had intercepted most of the 200 drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles launched by Iran with “some assistance” from its allies. “Over the past six months, we have been operating in close coordination with our partners,” he said, adding, “This partnership has always been robust, but last night it was exceptionally evident.”

France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, also condemned Iran’s attack and affirmed support for Israel, writing in a post on X that France was committed “to the security of Israel, our partners, and regional stability.”

Chancellor Olaf Scholz of Germany, a country that last week had to defend itself against accusations that its arms sales to Israel were abetting genocide in Gaza , called Iran’s attacks “unjustifiable and highly irresponsible.”

“Germany stands by Israel and we will discuss the situation with our allies,” he said in a statement on social media.

The cabinet of Jordan, a staunch critic of Israel’s war effort in Gaza, said on Sunday that its military had shot down aircraft and missiles that entered its airspace during the Iranian attack.

Eric Schmitt , Patrick Kingsley and Farnaz Fassihi contributed reporting.

Gaya Gupta is a reporter covering breaking news and a member of the 2023-24 Times Fellowship class , a program for journalists early in their careers. More about Gaya Gupta

Emma Bubola is a Times reporter based in London, covering news across Europe and around the world. More about Emma Bubola

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U.S., Not Israel, Shot Down Most Iran Drones and Missiles

American forces did most of the heavy lifting responding to Iran’s retaliation for the attack on its embassy in Damascus.

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The United States shot down more drones and missiles than Israel did on Saturday night during Iran’s attack, The Intercept can report. 

More than half of Iran’s weapons were destroyed by U.S. aircraft and missiles before they ever reached Israel. In fact, by commanding a multinational air defense operation and scrambling American fighter jets, this was a U.S. military triumph. 

The extent of the U.S. military operation is unbeknownst to the American public, but the Pentagon coordinated a multination, regionwide defense extending from northern Iraq to the southern Persian Gulf on Saturday. During the operation, the U.S., U.K., France, and Jordan all shot down the majority of Iranian drones and missiles. In fact, where U.S. aircraft originated from has not been officially announced, an omission that has been repeated by the mainstream media. Additionally, the role of Saudi Arabia is unclear, both as a base for the United States and in terms of any actions by the Saudi military.

In calculating the size of Iran’s attack and the overwhelming role of the United States, U.S. military sources say that the preliminary estimate is that half of Iran’s weapons experienced technical failures of some sort.

“U.S. intelligence estimates that half of the weapons fired by Iran failed upon launch or in flight due to technical issues,” a U.S. Air Force senior officer told The Intercept. Of the remaining 160 or so, the U.S. shot down the majority, the officer said. The officer was granted anonymity to speak about sensitive operational matters.

Asked to comment on the United States shooting down half of Iran’s drones and missiles, the Israel Defense Forces and the White House National Security Council did not respond at the time of publication. The Pentagon referred The Intercept to U.S. Central Command, which pointed to a press release saying CENTCOM forces supported by U.S. European Command destroyers “successfully engaged and destroyed more than 80 one-way attack uncrewed aerial vehicles (OWA UAV) and at least six ballistic missiles intended to strike Israel from Iran and Yemen.”

Israel says that more than 330 drones, low-flying cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles were launched by Iran, including some 30 Paveh-type cruise missiles, 180 or so Shahed drones, and 120 Emad intermediate-range ballistic missiles, as well as other types of weapons. All of the drones and cruise missiles were launched from Iranian territory, Israel says. Some additional missiles were also launched from inside Yemen, according to IDF data.

Most media reports say that none of the cruise missiles or drones ever entered Israeli airspace. According to a statement by IDF spokesperson Adm. Daniel Hagari, some 25 cruise missiles “were intercepted by IAF [Israeli Air Force] fighter jets outside the country’s borders,” most likely over Jordanian territory.

Israel’s statement that it shot down the majority of Iranian “cruise missiles” is probably an exaggeration. According to U.S. military sources and preliminary reporting, U.S. and allied aircraft shot down the majority of drones and cruise missiles. U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said that the Royal Air Force Typhoons intercepted “a number” of Iranian weapons over Iraqi and Syrian airspace.

The Jordanian government has also hinted that its aircraft downed some Iranian weapons. “We will intercept every drone or missile that violates Jordan’s airspace to avert any danger. Anything posing a threat to Jordan and the security of Jordanians, we will confront it with all our capabilities and resources,” Jordan’s Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said during an interview on the Al-Mamlaka news channel.

French fighters also shot down some drones and possibly cruise missiles.

U.S. aircraft, however, shot down “more than” 80 Iranian weapons, according to U.S. military sources. President Joe Biden spoke with members of two F-15E Strike Eagle aircraft squadrons to “commend them for their exceptional airmanship and skill in defending Israel from an unprecedented aerial attack by Iran.” Two F-15 squadrons — the 494th Fighter Squadron based at Royal Air Force Lakenheath in the United Kingdom, and the 335th Fighter Squadron from Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in North Carolina — are forward deployed to the Middle East, at least half of the planes at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Two U.S. warships stationed in the Mediterranean — the USS Carney (DDG 64) and the USS Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) — shot down at least six ballistic missiles, the Pentagon says. The War Zone is reporting that those ships may have fired Standard Missile 3 (SM-3) interceptors in combat for the first time. A U.S. Army Patriot surface-to-air missile battery in Erbil, Iraq, shot down at least one ballistic missile. Wreckage of an Iranian missile was also found outside Erbil, as well as in an open area outside the province of Najaf.

Iran’s attack marks the first time since 1991 that a nation state has attacked Israel directly. Contending with extremely long distances and utilizing scores of decoys and swarm tactics to attempt to overwhelm Middle East air defenses, Iran managed to hit two military targets on the ground in Israel, including Nevatim Air Base. According to the IDF, five missiles hit Nevatim Air Base and four hit another base. Despite the low number of munitions successfully landing, the dramatic spectacle of hundreds of rockets streaking across the night sky in Syria, Iraq, and Iran has left Tehran contented with its show of force. 

Iran “has achieved all its goals, and in our view the operation has ended, and we do not intend to continue,” Mohammad Bagheri, chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces, said over the weekend. Still, he cautioned, “If the Zionist regime or its supporters demonstrate reckless behavior, they will receive a decisive and much stronger response.”

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The U.S. coordinated the overall operation from the Combined Air Operations Center at Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, where the overall commander was Lt. Gen. Alexus G. Grynkewich, the air commander of CENTCOM. “We take whatever assets we have that are in theater … under our tactical control or in a direct support role across the joint force and the coalition, and we stitch them together so that we can synchronize the fires and effects when we get into that air defense fight,” Grynkewich told Air & Space Forces Magazine after the Iran attack. “We’re trying to stitch together partners in the region who share a perspective of a threat, share concern of the threats to stability in the region — which primarily emanate from Iran with a large number of ballistic missiles — and be in a position where we’re able to share information, share threat warning. And the ultimate goal is to get to a much deeper and fuller integration. We’ve made tremendous progress.”

In a call immediately following Iran’s attack, Biden reportedly told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “Israel really came out far ahead in this exchange” and warned of the “risks of escalation” — as if that hadn’t already happened.

Correction: April 16, 2024 A previous version of this article incorrectly referred to Mohammad Bagheri as the president of Iran. He is the chief of staff of the Iranian armed forces.

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How Israel Defended Against Iran's Drone and Missile Attack

On Saturday, Iran launched more than 300 drones and cruise missiles at Israel , a response to a strike earlier this month against Iran's embassy in Syria. As they made their way to their target, Israel invoked a number of defense systems to impede their progress. That starts with the Iron Dome.

The Iron Dome , operational for well over a decade , comprises at least 10 missile-defense batteries strategically distributed around the country. When radar detects incoming objects, it sends that information back to a command-and-control center, which will track the threat to assess whether it’s a false alarm, and where it might hit if it’s not. The system then fires interceptor missiles at the incoming rockets that seem most likely to hit an inhabited area.

“All of that process was designed for defense against low-flying, fast-moving missiles,” says Iain Boyd, director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado. Which also makes it well prepared for an onslaught of drones. “A drone is going to be flying probably slower than these rockets,” Boyd says, “so in some ways it’s an easier threat to address.”

Things get more complicated if the drones are flying so low that the radar can’t detect them. The biggest challenge to the Iron Dome, though, is sheer quantity. Israel has hundreds of interceptor missiles at its disposal, but it’s still possible for the Iron Dome to get overwhelmed, as it did on October 7 when Hamas attacked Israel with a barrage of thousands of missiles.

Israel officials say that the Iron Dome and other systems successfully defended against 99 percent of the Iranian drones and missiles, although a 10-year-old boy was reportedly injured by shrapnel from an interceptor.

While the Iron Dome is Israel’s last line of defense, it’s not the only factor that came into play. The UAVs in question are likely Iran-made Shahed-136 drones, which have played a prominent role in Russia’s war against Ukraine . These so-called suicide drones—it has a built-in warhead and is designed to crash into targets—are relatively cheap to produce, which is why Iran was able to send them in such quantity.

“At one level they’re not difficult to take down. They’re not stealthy, they don’t fly very fast, and they don’t maneuver,” says David Ochmanek, senior defense analyst at the nonprofit RAND Corporation. “In some way, they're like airborne targets.”

That slowness and fixed flight path in particular mean the unmanned aerial systems (UAS) had to travel for several hours before they reached their intended destination, leaving ample opportunities to intercept them.

“Because there’s so much indication of warning in advance of the UAS, presumably there’s going to be a lot of fixed-wing, manned aircraft that are looking at these things, tracking these things, and presumably trying to engage these things,” says Tom Karako, director of the Missile Defense Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a policy think tank.

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Jessica Rawnsley

Some of that work fell to the US military; CNN reports that forces in the region intercepted more than 70 drones and “at least three” ballistic missiles. The UK said it also provided backup for US planes that had been diverted from their existing missions, and that it would intercept UAVs as well.

That doesn't mean, though, that these drones should be taken lightly. “They have high-explosive warheads of several hundred pounds. If one hits a building, it'll destroy that building,” says Ochmanek. “The other thing is, they fly low. If you have a ground-based radar, they don't break the horizon until they're fairly close to the target, so the engagement time is limited.”

Israel’s further-reaching defense systems also came into play. The country’s Arrow 3 antiballistic missiles can intercept exo-atmospheric targets—that is to say, in space—while Arrow 2 systems have less range but are still considered extremely effective. Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari credited the Arrow system with taking out most of Iran’s ballistic missiles. There’s also the “David’s Sling” system, which has a much shorter range than Arrow but should prove effective against drone attacks.

Hagari also said that the country would scramble GPS signals as a further effort to disrupt the incoming UAVs.

The question now is whether the tensions will escalate from here, and how Israel’s air defense resources hold up after October 7 and months of sustained attacks on Gaza. “I think that’s probably part of the strategy on the part of Iran, is that the last six months has probably depleted the number of interceptors available to the Iron Dome systems,” says Boyd. “They saw for themselves the effectiveness of the Hamas attack. I think they’re trying to use the same approach.”

In an update Sunday morning local time, Hagari said Israel had intercepted most of the dozens of surface-to-surface missiles Iran had launched thus far, along with more than 10 cruise missiles and dozens of UAVs, all outside of Israel’s territory. Iran has indicated that the attack is over and that it considers the matter settled, but warned against retaliation from Israel.

“Should the Israeli regime commit any military aggression again, Iran's response will assuredly and decisively be stronger, and more resolute,” said Iranian ambassador Amir-Saeid Iravani in a letter to the United Nations.

“What I would be concerned about,” says Karako, “is what we haven’t yet seen.”

Update 4/13/2024, 9:33 pm ET: Added comment from RAND Corporation's David Ochmanek.

Update 4/14/2024, 9:00 am ET: Added latest details from the attack and a statement from Iran's UN ambassador.

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