America's Tomahawk Cruise Missiles Is Shrinking And Fast

Table Of Content

• Data and Supplemental Information
• Exploring the Financial Impact of Cruise Missile Technology
• Air Force’s legislative proposal is an existential threat to the National Guard
• Examples of Cruise Missile Launch Costs
• Examples of Different Cruise Missile Costs
• ROC-X – The solution to organic precision strike capabilities
• The Role of Fast Payment Systems in Addressing Financial Inclusion

These data points are frequently used to illustrate the gap between the two costs, which can lead to the impression that defenses are too expensive to sustain. Navy’s use of a $2 million Standard Missile-2 to intercept $2,000 Houthi drones. It makes for a good headline, but the simplistic comparison can be misleading.

Data and Supplemental Information

But if a less expensive munition, like a drone, is the only threat, this could lead to the use of a more expensive interceptor for a less capable threat. No loadout is perfect, but a ship commander must defend the ship and its crew. The alternative mistake, having too few expensive interceptors for a more challenging threat, could invite catastrophe. Commanders likely err toward greater capability relative to expected missions in selecting defensive interceptor loadouts, increasing the cost of interceptors on board. The decision to reintroduce the SLCM-N was not taken lightly in the 2018 Nuclear Posture Review; it was evaluated for need, cost, the burden on the US Navy, and how it might affect other nuclear modernization programs then underway.

Exploring the Financial Impact of Cruise Missile Technology

Over water, the Tomahawk uses inertial guidance or GPS to follow a preset course; once over land, the missile's guidance system is aided by terrain contour matching (TERCOM). Terminal guidance is provided by the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system or GPS, producing a claimed circular error probable of about 10 meters. Raytheon received a $122m contract from the US Navy in March 2015 for the production of 114 Tomahawk Block IV all-up round missiles. Raytheon conducted an active seeker test flight for the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile in January 2016. It can be armed with a nuclear or unitary warhead or a conventional submunitions dispenser with combined-effect bomblets.

Air Force’s legislative proposal is an existential threat to the National Guard

But the primary warhead of the Tomahawk is a 1,000-pound high explosive charge. It can also carry cluster munitions consisting of small bomblets, similar to the ATACMS currently used in Ukraine. For explosive force, Tomahawks were more than enough to disable runways or sink ships. Tomahawk missiles have been world famous since the first Gulf War in 1991 when the United States used the missile against Saddam Hussein's forces in Iraq and Kuwait. Since then, the missile system has been used in nearly every conflict the United States has been involved in, including recent strikes against Houthi rebels in Yemen. Given the weapon's ubiquity, it's worth exploring what exactly a Tomahawk missile is.

Additionally, the cost of launching a cruise missile can add significantly to the overall cost of the system. Finally, the financial impact of cruise missile technology should be taken into account when considering its use, as it carries both potential benefits and risks. A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided weapon, designed to deliver an explosive payload to a target.

Examples of Cruise Missile Launch Costs

In 2024, both American and British forces launched Tomahawks against Houthi rebels after the rebel group attacked shipping lanes and US-flagged vessels in the Red Sea. The War Zone has collected the latest unit costs of these weapons to give readers a sense of just how much it is spending to arm its fleet. It should be stressed that these are the prices for just the individual weapons and the figures do not factor in any future spending on support services, modifications, upgrades, or past spending on the weapons' development.

The Navy Wants A Cheap Long Range Cruise Missile - And Soon - Forbes

The Navy Wants A Cheap Long Range Cruise Missile - And Soon.

Posted: Thu, 29 Feb 2024 08:00:00 GMT [source]

Examples of Different Cruise Missile Costs

Lockheed Martin was even reported to be working to integrate the LRASM on Boeing’s P-8A Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft. There is ample precedent for fitting a long range anti-ship missile to such an aircraft. The air-launched version of the Harpoon was first deployed on the Navy's P-3C Orion in 1979. Outside of the Gulf War, Tomahawks were used to attack Iraq several more times in the 1990s, against Bosnian targets in 1995, during NATO actions against Yugoslavia, and during the engagements against Afghanistan after 9/11. More recently, Tomahawks saw use in Libya as part of Operation Odyssey Dawn, ISIS in Syria experienced the effects of Tomahawks, and Syrian chemical weapons facilities used by despot Bashar Al-Assad were struck by Tomahawks in 2017.

Following the Milestone B decision, the Air Force in July awarded a $2 billion development contract to the Raytheon Co. for the program. The latest projection does not include the upgraded warhead for the missile, dubbed the W80-4, which is expected to cost an additional $11 billion. The updated cost projection is an increase of 30–50 percent from the Air Force’s earlier estimate of $10.8 billion for the program, known as the long-range standoff (LRSO) weapon, in 2016. (See ACT, September 2016.) Both the new and previous estimates include the impact of inflation. SDA awarded SpaceX $149 million and L3Harris $194 million to each build four LEO sats carrying wide-field-of-view IR sensors as part of what it calls “Tranche 0” — i.e. a demo version — of its planned, seven-layer National Defense Space Architecture.

The Role of Fast Payment Systems in Addressing Financial Inclusion

Realistically, that means the fleet could get around 1,400 Block Vs through the mid-2030s. Unless Congress pays for more missiles, the Tomahawk arsenal could shrink by half or more over that timespan. The result would be a much more capable, but potentially much smaller, U.S. cruise-missile arsenal. A digitized image of an area is mapped and then inserted into a TLAM mission. During the flight the missile will verify that the images that it has stored correlates with the image it sees below itself. Based on comparison results the missile's inertial navigation system is updated and the missile corrects its course.

The US Navy awarded a $251m contract to Raytheon for the production and delivery of Tomahawk Block IV missiles for both the US Navy and Royal Navy in September 2014. Raytheon was awarded a $207m-worth firm-fixed-price contract in March 2009 for 207 Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round (AUR) missiles. The Tomahawk Block IV missile is powered by a Williams International F415 cruise turbo-fan engine and ARC MK 135 rocket motor. The Block IV Tomahawk missile is outfitted with advanced electronic support measure (ESM) seeker in Block IV Tomahawk missile. Its joint multi-effects warhead enables the commander to control the blast. The two-way satellite communications are used to perform post-launch mission changes throughout the flight.

Adversaries might also launch missile barrages that would overwhelm defenses in a specific location. “Even advanced battle management systems might be hard-pressed to respond in time,” CBO finds. The Department of Defense and the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) are already stretched thin executing the replacement programs for aging US nuclear weapons. This includes an intercontinental ballistic missile, nuclear-powered ballistic missile submarine, strategic bomber, and an air-launched nuclear-armed cruise missile. Yet, there may be ways to develop and deploy the SLCM-N in a cost-bearable manner that causes the least amount of disruption to ongoing modernization programs and does not interfere with submarine operations.

They are launched from ships, submarines or aircraft, and their speed and range vary depending on their purpose. This article will explore the cost and financial impact of cruise missile technology. Air Force’s program to build a new fleet of nuclear air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) has risen to between $14.2 billion and $16.2 billion as the service begins the main development phase for the weapons. Congress will be instrumental in the Department of Defense finding the sweet spot among requirements, costs, and operations. Analysis has been done to show that the SLCM-N’s contribution to nuclear deterrence can be made at these shorter ranges. Significant costs can be avoided by modifying existing or planned missiles rather than commencing a new developmental program.