The US Is About to Stop Buying Tomahawk Missiles, Like the Ones That Hit Syria

Defense One ^ | 7 Apr 2017 | Marcus Weisgerber

[RitchieAprile]

The venerable Tomahawk cruise missile, used in conflicts big and small since 1991, took center stage once again in an April 7 strike that rained some five dozen of the weapons upon a Syrian airfield believed to have launched a chemical attack. But its end is in sight, if not exactly imminent.

The U.S. Navy, which currently has some 4,000 Tomahawks, plans to stop buying the venerable weapon in the next few years. Service leaders haven’t fully articulated their plans to replace it, but they have started talking about the need for a “Next Generation Land Attack Weapon” slated to enter service more than a decade hence.

In 2014, then-Navy acquisition chief Sean Stackley (now the Navy’s acting secretary) told the House Armed Services Seapower and Projection Forces subcommittee that the next-generation weapon could be an upgraded Tomahawk or a different weapon.

“[W]e are moving forward with development of what has been referred to as next-generation land-attack weapon,” Stackley said. “And the key elements of that weapon will be its increased lethality, survivability beyond what Tomahawk brings today.”

More recently, in October, the Navy asked defense firms to provide information about technologies they are working on that could be used in these future weapons.

The Navy said it would use the information “to analyze individual and combinations (Family of Systems (FOS)) of existing weapons, modifications to existing weapons, ongoing demonstration efforts, new weapon designs, and enabling capabilities to determine the most cost effective manner in which to achieve an optimal level of operational capability with an acceptable level of operational risk.”

In the meantime, the Navy plans to upgrade much of its existing stockpile, enabling it, for example, to sink ships. That kind of capability expansion in line with an overall Pentagon drive to make existing weapons more flexible. Last year, Navy officials announced they had quietly modified the SM-6, an interceptor built to shoot down aircraft and missiles, to sink ships.

Both the Tomahawk and SM-6 are built by Massachusetts-based Raytheon, whose shares rose in trading on Friday.

Last year, the Navy asked Congress for $187 million to buy 100 new Tomahawks. Last month, the Trump administration asked lawmakers for $85 million to buy an additional 96 missiles. Budget documents show the Navy has purchased more than 8,000 Tomahawks overall.

Todd Harrison, a defense budget expert with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said it would cost the Pentagon about $89 million to replace the 59 Tomahawks that stuck Syria early Friday morning local time.

[Cobra64]

Naive.

[Cobra64]

Yup. Use up the old stuff.

[skimbell]

I think that we already have a helicopter named "Comanche".

That's probably already offending a bunch of Native Americans but...

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

PC name changes can be tricky;

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNkMLRJJHWw

Note: that was supposed to be film critic Rex Reed. Also the new mascot on the can changed from an American Indian chief in a full feather headdress to an man from India in a three piece suit.

[PapaBear3625]

From NationalInterest.org:

The Navy is currently wrapping up the procurement cycle for the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk missile. In 2019, the service will conduct a recertification and modernization program for the missiles reaching the end of their initial 15-year service period, which will upgrade or replace those internal components required to return them to the fleet for the second 15 years of their 30-year planned service life.

The current Tomahawks are going back in the shop for a round of maintenance plus upgrades to their sensor and control electronics. Plus Raytheon still has the ability to make more.

[ealgeone]

And Indiana!

[bigbob]

I propose the next generation of missile be named the “Double Bacon Deluxe”.

[PapaBear3625]

The Future of the Combat Tested Tomahawk - New Navy Tomahawk Can Hit Moving Targets at Sea

“The enhanced TACTOM (Tactical Tomahawk) modernization program will incorporate an all-weather seeker into the Tomahawk Weapon System Baseline IV. The seeker, coupled with mid-course in-flight target updates, will provide the missile the ability to strike a moving maritime target,” the Navy Tomahawk Program Manager, told Scout Warrior last year.

The Navy’s 2017 budget request included $439 million to develop and integrate the software and hardware for this advanced Tomahawk modernization program.

“Development of enhanced TACTOM modernization, which integrates seeker technology and processing capability to the missile, is scheduled to commence in FY17 (fiscal year 2017) with a projected Initial Operational Capability in FY22 (fiscal year 2022),” the official added. “These modernization kits include a seeker with an associated data processor, cables and harnesses which will be integrated into the TACTOM All-Up-Round missile.”

Using internal funding, Raytheon has developed and tested a so-called “active seeker” engineered to better enable the weapon to more quickly find, track and destroy moving targets.

[2CAVTrooper]

Had a helicopter named the Comanche (RAH-66).

And the U.S. Army asks native American tribes to name helicopters.

AR 70-28, dated 18 June 1976, specifies that “Army aircraft should be given the names of American Indian tribes or chiefs or terms. The name should appeal to the imagination without sacrifice of dignity, and should suggest an aggressive spirit and confidence in the capabilities of the aircraft. The name also should suggest mobility, agility, flexibility, firepower and endurance.”

http://rhinoden.rangerup.com/the-complete-non-issue-of-indian-tribes-and-the-us-militarys-naming-conventions/

[AndyJackson]

Double Bacon Deluxe

Cultural appropriation of Kevin Bacon, who is offended at his own name.

[Squantos]

Call em “Mother in Law” ..... those would be scary.

[MGG]

I wonder how my to senators will react to the jobs lost in MA because of this?

[PLMerite]

"Buying Machete missiles, like the m*zzies use to chop heads off?"

It'd sure scare the heck out of me:

[SandRat]

Comanche were the most feared even by other Native-American's.

That's why a Texas Full Moon is called a Comanche Moon because they would always come from surprising angles at suprising times when everyone was resting for the night, in the dark of the night.

[ebshumidors]

All Army helicopters are named after indian tribes.

[minnesota_bound]

We outta use them all. We have many targets in the mideast deserving of them.

[pfflier]

the key elements of that weapon will be its increased lethality, survivability beyond what Tomahawk brings today

Improve on 59 of 61 successes of a very complex and multifaceted system of which one element is the Tomahawk?

[euram]

probably being replaced with the Peace Pipe Missile.

[dforest]

Perhaps it was a good way to get rid of some missiles.

Are they going to unload some more on the fat little psycho in N Korea?

[GingisK]

The manufacturers discard the tooling jigs and fixtures once the build contracts dry up. It is better to make new devices rather than retool to make the old ones.