Raytheon and U.S. Navy run Tomahawk missiles through real-time tests
NewsJanuary 13, 2017
SAN NICOLAS ISLAND, Calif. The U.S. Navy and Raytheon have completed two flight tests of the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile, in a demonstration of how service personnel can plan missions in real time to strike time-sensitive enemy targets.
Two Tomahawk missiles -- containing inert warheads -- were launched from the Vertical Launch System of the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Pinckney (DDG 91) at the Naval Air Systems Command Sea Test Range off the coast of southern California. The first test was planned in real time by the crew of the USS Pinckney, who used the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System's launch platform mission planning (LPMP) tool to produce flight plans based on data provided by the United States Fleet Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. The Tomahawk missile followed a preplanned route until the conclusion of the test. In the second test, mission planners used the missile's dynamic LPMP capability to generate a longer-duration mission that concluded with a terminal dive maneuver to strike the target. This second test also validated missile performance for a long-duration mission.
Raytheon's Tomahawk cruise missile is designed for launch from a ship or submarine at a range of 1,000 miles to strike integrated air-defense platforms; it is also used to strike fixed, mobile, and high-value targets.
