CV32 Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 For those of you who have fond (or perhaps, not so fond) memories of the RGM-109B TASM antiship variant of the Tomahawk cruise missile, I have news: From Defense Aerospace Raytheon Develops Anti-Surface Warfare Capability for Tomahawk Block IV Missile (Source: Raytheon Company; issued May 4, 2009) TUCSON, Ariz. --- Raytheon Company has developed a technology plan to enhance moving target capabilities for the combat-proven Tomahawk Block IV missile. The technology will enable naval forces to effectively engage moving maritime surface targets and conduct anti-surface warfare missions. "This capability will allow the warfighter to attack a new tactical target set from more than 900 nautical miles (1035 statute miles)," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile System's Air Warfare Systems' product line. "Raytheon's technology road map is the first step toward a rapid-development effort that will deliver a single, affordable, multi-mission missile capable of land attack and anti-surface warfare operations." The Tomahawk Block IV is a surface- and submarine-launched, precision-strike, stand-off weapon. It is designed for long-range precision strike missions against high-value and heavily defended targets. More than 1,900 Tomahawk rounds have been fired in support of almost every conflict since 1991, and more than 1,300 Tomahawk Block IV missiles have been delivered since 2005. The Tomahawk Block IV is integrated on numerous surface and subsurface combatant platforms in the U.S. Navy and subsurface combatant vessels in the U.K. Royal Navy. Raytheon Company, with 2008 sales of $23.2 billion, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With headquarters in Waltham, Mass., Raytheon employs 73,000 people worldwide. ** From Aviation Week At the U.S. Navy League exhibition in Washington this month, Raytheon Missile Systems will unveil an upgrade to the BGM/UGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV land-attack cruise missile that will make it a multirole weapon capable of hitting moving ships. The package has four elements: An active electronically scanned array, millimeter-wave seeker provides target acquisition and homing; a passive electronic surveillance system is for long-range acquisition and identification; the 1,000-lb. blast-fragmentation warhead is replaced by a shaped charge; and the two-way data link gets more bandwidth. The missile is designed to kill or disable large, hardened warships in difficult environments such as littoral waters, over a greater range than Boeing’s Harpoon/Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM), the U.S. Navy’s standard antiship missile. The Raytheon warhead is twice as large as SLAM’s, and the 900-naut.-mi. range is six times greater. This is not an antipirate weapon, and it is not hard to guess which navy is the most likely target. The new Tomahawk is designed for networked operations. It would receive targeting data acquired by manned or unmanned aircraft or satellites monitoring the target fleet, and could transmit radar imagery to a shadowing aircraft for final identification of a target. Multiple coordinated missile attacks would overwhelm defenses. One scenario has a Tomahawk popping up to image and identify a target and updating missiles below the horizon. Raytheon claims that the antiship Tomahawk could be developed within 36 months of a go-ahead decision. They would be produced by modifying Block IV missiles as they cycle through recertification programs. [excerpt] ** CV32: With the US Navy's decision not to procure Harpoon Block II, and the apparent demise of Block III, this looks to be the solution (at least as far as Raytheon goes). Quote
pmaidhof Posted May 7, 2009 Report Posted May 7, 2009 For those of you who have fond (or perhaps, not so fond) memories of the RGM-109B TASM antiship variant of the Tomahawk cruise missile, I have news: Good News. Quote
Jason Posted May 20, 2009 Report Posted May 20, 2009 so if im reading this right, the us navy is going to let the harpoon missile fade away and use all tomahawks? What kind of negative impact will this have on the name of our favorite simulator? Quote
CV32 Posted May 20, 2009 Author Report Posted May 20, 2009 so if im reading this right, the us navy is going to let the harpoon missile fade away and use all tomahawks? What kind of negative impact will this have on the name of our favorite simulator? They have definitely been moving away from the legacy Harpoon for awhile now. The antiship version of Tomahawk Block IV (Tactical Tomahawk) is only a proposal at this point, one that might be difficult to push in the face of other nations' supersonic developments. There is a lot of research going on that might eventually produce a supersonic AShM (Anti-Ship Missile) for the US Navy (look up a program called the X-51 Waverider, for example), but they are still a long way from fielding anything of this kind. In the interim, they will be continuing to rely on short range PGMs (JDAM, LGBs) and the longer range, subsonic missiles (Harpoon, SLAM-ER). Quote
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