Tomahawk cruise missile
The Tomahawk cruise missile is an American-made, low-flying nuclear capable precision guided cruise missile designed for long-range strikes with a range of up to 5,500 kilometers against land targets. It can be launched from naval ships or submarines and is known for its ability to fly at low altitudes, making it effective in high-risk environments where manned aircraft may be vulnerable. Since 2024 it has been made solely by Raytheon. Reports as of October 2025 were that Raytheon was producing 38 per month, with a declining forecast in the near future.[1]
The unit cost is about $2 million, and they are sold for export exclusively to the UK for about $4 million. Any use in combat requires either American or British guidance and participation. There are an estimated 4,000 in the US stockpile.[2] Estimates are of being about 2,000 short of "current needs".[3] The London Financial Times reported in October 2025, "out of the 200 the Pentagon has procured since 2022, it has already fired more than 120, according to defence experts. The defence department has requested funding for only 57 more Tomahawks in its 2026 budget." The neocon Center for a New American Security think-tank says Washington could spare some 20 to 50 Tomahawks for Ukraine, “which will not decisively shift the dynamics of the war”.[4]
Originally designed for vertical launch aboard US Navy ships and submarines, the Tomahawk cruise missile system has been in service for around 40 years. While the Tomahawk cruise missile system is constantly being upgraded to eliminate its weak points, it remains the main weapon for tactical pin-point attacks.
The US has used non-nuclear conventional warhead Tomahawks against Iraq, Afghanistan, ISIS in Syria, in Libya, Yugoslavia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Somalia, and Yemen. The number fired over the years is between 2,000 and 3,000 conventional Tomahawks.
Sea launched Tomahawks were used in the attack on the Iranian Fordow nuclear facility during the 12 Day War in June 2025.
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Technical aspects
Tomahawks came in three broad versions known as ALCMs (pronounced al-chems), GLCMs (pronounced Glick-ems) and SLCMs (pronounced Slick-ems). ALCMs are air launched cruise missiles typically carried by B-52 bombers. GLCMs are ground launched cruise missiles and SLCMs are sea-launched cruise missiles that can be carried by surface ships, mainly destroyers that today include the AEGIS air defense system, and submarines.
The main weak points of the modern Tomahawk systems are a relatively low flight speed; a large range of salvo fire near the target; difficulties with electronic warfare systems; a long cycle of flight correction; and no high-gravity maneuver capabilities for resisting air defense systems.
The Tomahawk Weapon Control System (TWCS) is the classified suite that governs mission planning, missile initialization, in-flight updates, and monitoring. Mission planning itself involves uploading high-resolution terrain elevation data, satellite imagery, and target coordinates into the missile's computer. This requires secure U.S. defense networks, such as SIPRNet, and specialized software, like the Tomahawk Integrated Mission Planning System (TIMPS) or its successor, the Joint Mission Planning System (JMPS). These are operated only by trained U.S. personnel with security clearances. The missile's terrain-matching and optical scene-correlation systems (TERCOM and DSMAC) rely on continuously updated, classified geospatial databases generated by U.S. intelligence. Without this data, accuracy would degrade severely in contested electronic warfare environments.
Modern variants of the Tomahawk, such as the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (RGM/UGM-109E), introduce an additional dependency: a two-way satellite data link that enables retargeting, loitering, and battle damage assessment. This link rides on secure U.S. military satellite networks, using cryptographic protocols and NSA-certified Type 1 encryption.
The weapon is further safeguarded by multiple electronic and procedural locks, including Permissive Action Links and cryptographic enable codes that must be loaded before launch. These codes originate in U.S. Strategic Command's command-and-control infrastructure and are distributed only within U.S. key management channels. Without them, a Tomahawk remains inert. The United States retains the ability to withhold or revoke keys, rendering any transferred missile unusable—a standard safeguard for advanced U.S. precision weapons.
The Tomahawk is not a plug-and-play munition that can be launched from an improvised platform with manually entered coordinates. It is a deeply embedded component of U.S. naval strike warfare, requiring a sophisticated ecosystem of platforms, command systems, data links, cryptographic authentication, and mission planning tools that exist only within the U.S. Navy—and, to a limited degree, the Royal Navy.
The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is designed for launch exclusively from vertical launch systems (VLS), most notably the Mk 41 VLS on U.S. Navy destroyers and cruisers, or from submarine torpedo tubes and dedicated VLS cells on U.S. and British submarines. These systems are not simple launch containers. They are fully integrated into the ship's combat architecture, providing power, cooling, data connectivity, and fire control. Initial targeting data, navigation alignment, and launch authorization are all delivered through the ship's Aegis Combat System or an equivalent submarine fire control suite.
Problems with ground launch systems
These problems stem from adapting a maritime missile to rugged, mobile land environments, where factors like terrain, logistics, and defenses differ sharply from sea-based operations.
Ground launches revive Cold War-era treaty tensions; Russia's claims of INF violations persist, risking escalation. In Ukraine, U.S. control over targeting (to avoid sensitive data leaks) limits autonomy, and no operational ground systems exist yet—prototypes like Typhon aren't combat-ready.
Adapting naval technology for ground use inflates costs: a single Block V Tomahawk costs ~$2 million, plus launcher development (~$217 million for 154 missiles in 2022). Maintenance for folding wings, turbofan engines, and VLS canisters is demanding in remote areas, straining ground forces. Programs like LRF were budgeted for 56 units by 2028 but were axed, redirecting funds to alternatives like PrSM on HIMARS.
Tomahawk's subsonic speed (~550 mph) and low-altitude flight make it predictable and easier to intercept with modern air defenses (e.g., Russia's S-400), especially in ground-launch scenarios where pre-launch signatures are harder to conceal than on stealthy submarines. The missile lacks advanced low-observability features, reducing penetration against A2/AD networks from China or Russia. Past operational issues, like TERCOM guidance failures in featureless deserts (e.g., 10 missiles crashing during the 2003 Iraq war), highlight terrain-dependent risks.
Mobile ground launchers, such as the LRF on Joint Light Tactical Vehicles (JLTVs) or Typhon's tractor-trailers, struggle in austere or expeditionary settings. Early testing revealed poor cross-country performance on soft ground (e.g., beaches or mud), making them unsuitable for rapid deployment in contested areas like the Pacific islands or Ukraine's varied terrain. This led the US Marine Corps to cancel the LRF program in FY2026, citing incompatibility with Force Design 2030's emphasis on distributed, beachhead operations.
Reloading vertical launch cells (e.g., single-cell Mk 41 on ROGUE-Fires vehicles) in the field is complex and time-intensive, requiring specialized equipment and exposed crews. Unlike ship-based systems with cranes and stable platforms, ground setups face delays from terrain, weather, and enemy fire. For Tomahawk, this limits sustained fire rates in high-intensity conflicts.
Combat use
The Tomahawk has been used in combat operations since 1983 and has experienced five modernizations. Tomahawk, the first cruise missile. was launched from the USS Merrill (DD-976), an American destroyer ship, in March 1980. In June of the same year, the UGM-109, the underwater version of the Tomahawk system, ran an armament test. The development of the military project lasted for two more years until 1983, when the missile system passed into service. The Tomahawk cruise missiles were first used in Iraq during 1991 and became a symbol for the American idea of non-contact warfare.
When the US first tried out the Tomahawk missiles during the operation Desert Storm, the Western media strongly praised its combat results. However, in 1992 the New York Times and the Washington Post published an official report of the Department of Defense (DOD), which described the lessons learned by the US military during the Gulf War and showed the real state of events, including the true capabilities of the Tomahawk.
US warships and submarines launched 288 Tomahawk cruise missiles at stationary objects in Iraq. Only 50% of the missiles managed to hit their targets. Some experts consider this estimate optimistic. However, the Pentagon refused to discuss the efficiency of the missile strikes as many of the weapon combat usage estimates were classified.
Four years later, it was admitted that the Tomahawk cruise missile system was even less effective. It was brought into line with much cheaper weapons.
In 2014, 47 missiles were fired at ISIS military objects. In most cases, the cruise missiles were used to hit vital pin-point targets.
References
External link
- Tomahawk for Ukraine: Never-ending Saga of the Wunderwaffe to Turn the Tide, Strategic Reality vs. Wet Dreams: Capabilities and Constraints of Ukraine’s Missile Hopes. Mike Mihajlovic, Oct 06, 2025.
