Tomahawk Cruise Missiles
 The
Tomahawk missile is a long-range strike weapon that can be
fired from warships, including submarines, at targets more
than 1600 kilometres away.
It carries a 450-kilo conventional warhead, but can be fitted
with bomblet dispensers that allow smaller bombs to be showered
over targets such as airfields.
The main first-strike use of Tomahawks is designed to hit
heavily defended positions - usually air defences, communications
sites, and key military headquarters and give the United States
air superiority over hostile territory.
The missiles fly at extremely low altitudes to avoid enemy
radar and have been used successfully in the 1991 Gulf War
and more recently in Kosovo and Afghanistan.
Highly accurate, the Tomahawks cost more than $1 million
each.
Details:
- Engine: Williams International F107-WR-402 cruise
turbo-fan engine; CSD/ARC solid-fuel booster
- Length: 5.56 metres, with booster: 6.25 metres.
- Weight: 1,315.44 kg, 1587.6 kg with booster.
- Diameter: 51.81 cm.
- Wing Span: 2.67 metres.
- Range: 870 nautical miles (1609 km)
- Speed: Subsonic 880 km/h.
- Guidance: Terrain Contour Matching and Digital
Scene Matching Area Correlation missile guidance system
with a Global Positioning Satellite guidance capability.
- First Deployed: 1986.
- Cost: $1m+ per missile
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