In the future, the Tomahawk cruise missile could be modified to hit a warship from 1,000 miles away. raytheon
Posted on 07/12/2009 7:32:55 AM PDT by sukhoi-30mki
In the future, the Tomahawk cruise missile could be modified to hit a warship from 1,000 miles away. raytheon
Better use of this of this $1M missle.....
Use it to kill a $500M plus warship and take out forward agressor projection than destoying a small factory (unless of course it produces baby formula) that is worth a couple of million.
Couldn’t a predator drone or any other launch platform, with a Hellfire missile, currently do the same thing?
Given the Tomahawk’s relatively slow speed, would it not be vulnerable to CIWsystems on the sea where it’s ability to fly the nape of the geography is lost?
This is not the first time TLAM would be used in an anti-ship mission. The old TASM was the early TLAM (Bravo variant) anti-ship missile but was replaced by other less expensive weapons such as Harpoon with reduced range.
It’ll have to move a lot faster than it does now. A quick glance at wikipedia tells us that the missile is subsonic, which means it could be shot down by a sailor or marine with a GPMG strapped to the railing, never mind CIWS or Aster/PAAMS....
This is interesting because back in the days there was an anti-ship variant known as TASM. It was removed from the fleet in the mid-90s. It was *not* the same missile as the land-attack version. I can’t speak for the new one, but the old versions were not interchangeable; they were either anti-ship or land-attack variants.
A Tomahawk doesn’t cost a million dollars, has a greater range and is faster than a Predator. Each Predator requires a trained operator; a few people can launch dozens of Tomahawks. Tomahawks are launched from a ship’s Vertical Launching System or from a submarine, which you can’t do with a Predator. It’s radar cross-section is pretty small, and it would most likely be a sea-skimmer, so while anti-missile systems would be a threat, probably not much of one.
not with the speed required and a 1000mi range
Lets just bring back the TLAM-N.
We should have never taken it out of the inventory.
To a degree, but Tomohawks carry MUCH bigger payloads than Hellfires, which are effective on tanks but not so effective on heavily armored battleships...
That’s not what’s important here, the contract and the district funding is what is important. LOL
Probably not as well. The slow-flying predator would have to be directed to the area first and get off a shot from within the target ships air defense envelope. I don't think a Hellfire has a large enough warhead to take out anything larger than a patrol craft anyway.
A Hellfire has a tiny warhead that wouldn’t make a dent in a capital ship. A Tomahawk can carry close to a ton of explosives or a nuclear warhead.
I wonder if a hybrid solution would be cost effective: a fuel-efficient Tomahawk-style turbojet stage, which drops off when within 50 miles, and a supersonic ramjet stage which gets it the rest of the way.
Hellfire would just scratch a big ship. However, the bigger Predator-B (Reaper) has a 3,000 lbs payload, enough to carry two 1400 lbs Harpoon missiles
But a Tomahawk is used up in each mission, while a Predator can launch one or two Harpoon missiles, then return for reload/refuel.
The Predator/Reaper are great against enemies who either cannot shoot back, or airspace that has been sanitized. Against a foe that has a real level of capability, the Predator and Reaper (and even the FR favorite, the A-10 Warthog) are simply targets.
A Predator armed with Hellfires would be great against, say, Somali pirates, but in a future confrontation with China they wouldn't even get close. Furthermore, even if we had a magical Predator that manages to teleport 100 feet away from the target, the hellfire missile would most probably simply kill a couple of sailors and leave a scorch mark.
The new Tomahawk gives long-range capability against (say) Chinese navy ships, and that is something that no Drone currently active (note: active) can be able to do.
It is a fact that some day the United States will have to fight a near-peer enemy, and the day that happens will be the day when people realize that all enemies do not necessarily live in tents and fornicate with camels.
The Harpoons are used up too. We're confusing the weapon with the launch platform.
I'm strictly a surface guy, but I have never heard of a Predator being outfitted with Harpoons, let alone two of the suckers! That would be a hell of a dramatic boost in their capabilities.
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