Free Republic

The guided-missile destroyer USS Sterett (DDG 104) successfully launched two Tomahawk missiles during a weeklong weapons training exercise in the Pacific Ocean June 21-25. "The missile launch was a success," said Pablo Dasalla, lead platform test coordinator, who was on board to observe the launch. According to Dasalla, the planning required to launch a Tomahawk missile takes three to four months to coordinate. The coordination involves mission planning, approval from different organizations, scheduling of range time and fulfilling requirements prior to the missile launch. The ship's crew has been preparing for the past four months to maintain its mission readiness...

Los Angeles-class attack submarine USS Cheyenne (SSN-773) in conjunction with Commander, U.S. 7th Fleet and members of Naval Special Warfare Group (NSWG) 3 successfully fired a Block IV-E Tomahawk Land Attack Missile. The missile launch took place off the southern coast of California into China Lake Test Range and marks the first time a forward-deployed operational command acted as the Tomahawk strike coordinator and primary missile controller for an operational test launch. "The Navy's ability to conduct strike operations on re-locatable targets is currently very challenging," said Master Chief Fire Controlman (SW) David Brewer, U.S. 7th Fleet Tomahawk strike coordinator....

THE United States will retire its sea-based nuclear Tomahawk missiles within a few years, believing it has other ways to defend North-east Asia, a Pentagon official said on Wednesday. The elimination of the missile - supported in the past by some policymakers in Japan and South Korea - was part of a policy shift announced on Tuesday by President Barack Obama's administration to reduce the role of nuclear weapons. 'The timeline for its retirement will be over the next two to three years,' James Miller, the principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, told a news conference. He said that...

British Navy’s nuclear-powered submarine HMS Triumph is ready to set sail for sea trials after being refurbished for six years. The vessel will undergo extensive sea trial for three months before being commissioned in the Royal Navy for a second time. The submarine has been retrofitted at a cost of £300m ($455 million). Capability improvements include installation of latest sonar systems and an upgrade for the Tomahawk land attack cruise missile system. The vessel has also been equipped with a new command and control system, a new internal fibre optic computer systems network and enhanced satellite communications system. Its safety...

The U.S. Navy has now received 2000 of the new Tomahawk (BGM-109) Block 4 missiles, since production began five years ago. The Block 4s cost about $1.7 million each. The missile weighs 1.4 tons, has a range of 1,500 kilometers and carries a half ton warhead. It moves to its target at a speed of 880 kilometers an hour. The original Tomahawk was introduced 26 years ago, and nearly 7,000 have been manufactured. The U.S. Navy has fired nearly 2,000 in combat and training. The Block 4s are also getting upgraded so that they can hit moving targets. This is...

The United States has informally told Japan it will retire its sea-based Tomahawk cruise missiles carrying nuclear warheads, in line with President Barack Obama's policy to pursue a world free of atomic weapons, government sources said Monday. Washington said the move would not affect the nuclear umbrella, addressing concerns in Tokyo about the step's effect on U.S. deterrence against potential attacks from China, North Korea or other countries, the sources said. The retirement will probably be stipulated in the Nuclear Posture Review, a new nuclear strategic guideline the Obama administration is slated to submit to Congress next month, they said....

Todd Crowell Japan’s Covert Moves to Save The Endangered Tomahawk To listen to disarmament specialists, the country that is raising the most serious obstacles to new moves to reduce the role of nuclear weapons in defense strategy is Japan. Japan? Is this not the nation with the famous nuclear allergy? Is it not the nation that loudly reminds everyone that it is the only country on the globe to suffer an atomic attack? Is it not the country that loudly proclaims the “Three Noes” (Never to manufacture, possess or allow nuclear weapons onto its soil)? No country is more vocal...

U.S. Submarines Could Retain Nuclear-Armed Cruise Missiles Friday, July 31, 2009 An ongoing review of the U.S. nuclear weapons posture might call for the country to continue arming some of its attack submarines with nuclear-tipped Tomahawk cruise missiles, Kyodo News reported (see GSN, March 24). Washington will look to friendly nations to help decide whether to retire the weapons, a high-level U.S. official told Kyodo News. Japan has asked the United States to consult with partner governments before rolling back any nonstrategic nuclear-weapon deployments, according to the news service. One U.S. ally has expressed support for the missiles' deterrent value,...

Spain – Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (Source: US Defense Security Cooperation Agency; dated June 3, web-posted June 4, 2008) WASHINGTON --- The Defense Security Cooperation Agency notified Congress of a possible Foreign Military Sale to Spain of Block IV Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles as well as associated equipment and services. The total value, if all options are exercised, could be as high as $156 million. The Government of Spain has requested a possible sale of 20 RGM-109E Block IV Surface Ship Vertical Launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles, 5 Tactical Tomahawk weapon control systems hardware and software, canisters, containers,...

U.S. forces found, targeted and killed in a Somali desert city the senior al Qaeda operative who masterminded the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Africa and had since spent a decade in hiding, The Washington Times has learned. Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, who is one of the FBI's most-wanted terrorists, was the target of a U.S. missile strike on a residence in Dobley, a small town in southern Somalia near the Kenyan border, according to a U.S. military official who spoke to The Times on the condition of anonymity because of the nature of the operation.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States on Monday used precision missiles to strike a "known terrorist target" in southern Somalia, a U.S. military official said. The strike near Dhoobley, which is close to the Kenyan border, was aimed at a "facility where there were known terrorists" affiliated with East African al Qaeda operations, according to the official. News agency reports from the region are saying civilians were killed in the attack, but the official said the United States still is collecting post-strike information and is not yet able to confirm any details about casualties. The U.S. military official described Monday's...

An American missile ship set to dock at Haifa Port on Monday is equipped with an anti-missile defense system that could be deployed in the region in the event of an Iranian missile attack against Israel. The USS San Jacinto is an AEGIS cruiser in the Ticonderoga Class and was commissioned in 1988. It carries the most advanced underwater surveillance system available today and is equipped with the AEGIS missile defense system, which was developed by Lockheed Martin to protect against aircraft and missiles. The ship will remain in Haifa for three days. While the IDF developed and operates the...

Cruise control: successful launch sees UK ready for Tomahawk Block IV missile 09 August 2007 By Richard Scott At precisely 0913 h local time on 21 June 2007, a submarine-launched Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile slammed into a simulated target site at the Eglin Air Force Base (AFB) land test range, Florida, concluding a 650 n mile test flight begun in the Gulf of Mexico 75 minutes earlier. Discharged from one of the five torpedo tubes in the bow of HMS Trenchant, a UK Royal Navy (RN) Trafalgar-class nuclear-powered attack submarine (SSN), the missile had broached, transitioned to cruise flight,...

Fearless Tomahawk-type missile on radar SUJAN DUTTA New Delhi, July 19: Indian defence scientists have taken up a new cruise missile development programme. The missile named Nirbhay (The Fearless) is in the same class as the US’s Tomahawk and will have a range that is 300km longer than Pakistan’s Babur. Nirbhay is India’s seventh missile development project after the Agni series, the Prithvi series, Brahmos (in a joint venture with Russia), Akash, Trishul and Nag. The last three were part of the Integrated Guided Missile Development Programme founded by A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Nirbhay is being developed alongside Astra, an air-to-air...

A new hi-tech long-range land attack missile has been successfully fired by a Devonport-based submarine. The new 'smart' Block IV Tomahawk missile was fired during a live firing trial off the US coast. The 5,200 tonne attack submarine HMS Trenchant used one of her torpedo tubes to launch the missile, which then flew over the Gulf of Mexico, striking a target hundreds of miles away with pin-point accuracy. During the 60-minute test fight the missile reached heights of 10,000 feet and speeds of 500 miles an hour. The enhanced weapon will improve the long-range precision capability of the Royal Navy...

Dutch Govt Drops Plan to Buy Missiles Monday May 14, 1:15 pm ET Dutch Defense Ministry Shelves Plans to Buy Tomahawk Missiles AMSTERDAM, Netherlands (AP) -- The Dutch defense minister said Monday he has shelved plans to buy 30 Tomahawk cruise missiles to save money. "For the coming four years I do not plan to buy this weapon for the navy," Defense Minister Eimert van Middelkoop told reporters in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting. "I can use the money better elsewhere" he said. The planned purchase of Tomahawk missiles would have cost about 62 million euros ($84 million)...

Sub-Launched Tomahawk Missile Test A Smashing Success Sun, 08 Apr '07 Sources within the US Navy tell ANN the successful first test of a submarine torpedo tube-launched Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile was conducted at the Navy's missile range off the coast of southern California March 26. Launched from the Los Angeles-Class attack submarine USS Pasadena (SSN-752), the missile transitioned to cruise flight and flew a satellite-guided 635-nautical mile test flight to the NAVAIR Land Range at the NAVAIR Weapons Division in China Lake, CA. Test parameters included a successful re-direction of the missile in flight to an alternate flight...

With the addition of more than 21,000 combat troops being sent to Iraq plus the president's recent declaration to kill or capture Iranian Revolutionary Guard-Quds members these actions could be seen as a first step in addressing the Iranian problem. Further, the raid and capture of Iranian agents in the compound of Iraqi Shia leader Abdul Aziz al-Hakim certainly reinforces that premise. The Iranian problem has been building for more than 27 years, manifested by the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini conducting numerous attacks against the United States. First in November 1979, the radical "students" and possibly the current Iranian...

NORFOLK -– A military judge today sentenced Petty Officer 3rd Class Ariel J. Weinmann to 12 years in prison and a dishonorable discharge for espionage, desertion and other crimes. The 22-year-old submariner from Salem, Ore. admitted guilt to the offenses earlier this week at Norfolk Naval Station in a plea agreement that spared him the maximum potential penalty of life in prison with no possibility of parole. Weinmann, who deserted from the submarine Albuquerque in July 2005 after becoming disillusioned with the Navy, passed classified information about the Tomahawk cruise missile system to the Russians, according to a Pentagon source....

Viper-powered Tomahawk to be offered for sale Remember the Tomahawk, which debuted a few years ago on the auto show circuit? Maybe a better question would be: How could you forget it? There had been some speculation that it might actually see limited production, and apparently the-powers-that-be at DaimlerChrysler have given the green light. The 500 hp V-10 Frankencycle will be marketed as the Chrysler (not Dodge) Tomahawk, and will cost a cool $250,000, give or take a few pennies... Don't forget to check out the video on this site. I found it interesting in that they didn't show it...