[PapaBear3625]

There was no revelation about how “stand off” the F-18 needs to be.

I'm guessing it doesn't have to be an F-18. A satellite, a Predator done (or some future stealthy naval drone), a submarine -- anything that can observe the target and transmit terminal guidance info to the missile.

[Daus]

I'm guessing it doesn't have to be an F-18.

Correct, the real scenario is a MQ-4C Triton drone (naval Globalhawk) or P8 flying hundreds of miles in front of the battle group messaging back the targeting info to Destroyer which will launch the Tomahawk and then have those coordinates updated as the missile progresses to account for moving ships. Once the missile get's close it will guide itself in using it's own seeker.

The ability to update targeting in flight is the critical part. Sure, we've had long distance Tomahawks for a long time but they were only good for hitting static land targets. 1000 miles at launch means almost two hours in the air. A ship or a Bin Laden doesn't sit still that long.

[Billthedrill]

I'm guessing it doesn't have to be an F-18.

Yep. Lots of secondary guidance available. And there's always the prospect of it being autonomous. Well, "prospect" might not be a strong enough word. ;-)