Tomahawk – American cruise missile, equipped on all vehicles of the Navy – Air Force – Army. At the same time, it is also the main deterrent weapon of the current US power.
The Washington Times quoted a US official as saying that the guided-missile destroyers USS Mahan, USS Gravely, USS Barry and USS Ramage are ready to take position in the eastern Mediterranean Sea, near Syrian waters. . Each destroyer on this mission carries 90 Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are capable of hitting targets with extremely small errors.
With a weight of 1,300 kg and a length of 5.56m with the regular version and a weight of 1,600 kg, a length of 6.25m with the enhanced version, Tomahawk can carry a 450kg warhead or a W80 nuclear warhead. The operating range of the standard version is about 2,500km in the standard version.
Tomahawk missile. (Photo: Military Today).
At the present time, the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile is the brightest “star” among the missiles that the US military is using. Although it only flies at subsonic speed, thanks to its ability to evade the enemy’s defense system, Tomahawk easily shoots down targets deep in enemy territory. With the ability to carry both conventional and nuclear warheads, the Tomakawk is far more destructive than it looks.
In fact, the Tomahawk is one of the most versatile missiles in the world. With the ability to fire from the ground, on warships or submarines operating on the seabed, Tomahawk easily joins the battle in any battlefield. Much inferior to other missiles in terms of speed, but the ability to fly under control is the outstanding strength of Tomahawk.
Immediately after leaving the launch pad, weapons specialists can control the missile via a global positioning system. In the case of self-propelled according to a preset schedule, Tomahawk missiles still receive signals directly from satellites or advanced US reconnaissance systems to easily shoot down targets without encountering any obstacles. opponent’s resistance.
Tomahawk missiles flying from submarines.
Despite a range of up to 2,500km and a speed of 880km/h, the Tomahawk can still change targets while moving. Unique long wings help Tomahawk flexible in flight. Not flying in a straight line, but being able to move through the “blind spots” of enemy air defense radars helps the Tomahawk’s survivability very high.
In fact, detecting Tomahawk by radar or infrared scanning devices is very difficult. In addition, the complex navigation system, which integrates many different technologies, helps Tomahawk become outstandingly accurate in all combat conditions. Even, almost certainly Tomahawk knows what terrain it is flying in, how high it is with an error of 1m per 1,000m of flight path.
Not only that, Tomahawk can also read the terrain vertically to compare with the pre-loaded digital map, helping the missile to move more safely and accurately. Finally, the electronic comparison system with the magic eye helps Tomahawk rush into the target with an error of less than 10m. After preloading the target data, Tomahawk’s electronic system compares the way the image taken by the eye to determine the target.
Tomahawk missile destroys target.
Finally, Tomahawk owns a global positioning system GPS , which helps determine missile position and flight trajectory. In addition, the ability to connect and update target information from other reconnaissance devices helps ensure the ability to shoot down. Therefore, Tomahawk has the ability to shoot through the window of the target house.
However, since the value of each conventional Tomahawk and Tactical Tomahawk is up to 9,000 (at 1999 exchange rates) and .45 million (2011 exchange rates), one has to choose a very difficult target. carefully before shooting them.