Tomahawks get faster processors, better flight paths

Powered by new processors that run 20 times faster, Navy missiles should now fly more accurately to their targets following a major upgrade and electronics enhancements.
The Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS), in service since 2004, recently underwent improvements that include faster processors and increased cybersecurity controls.
Most notably, planners in the Tomahawk Weapons System Program Office (PMA-280) ditched older proprietary processors in favor of state-of-the-art multicore X-86 multicore processors, which run 20 times faster.
c4isrnet

Poland asks to buy Tomahawk missiles from US for new submarines

Poland's Defence Minister Tomasz Siemoniak said on Thursday he has asked the United States whether the European nation could buy Tomahawk missiles for its new submarines.
reuters

U.S. expands war against Islamic State with airstrikes in Syria

The United States and several Middle East partners pounded Islamic State targets in Syria Tuesday with waves of warplanes and Tomahawk cruise missiles in an aggressive and risky operation marking a new phase in the conflict.
A statement issued by the U.S. Central Command early Tuesday said that a “mix of fighter, bomber, remotely-piloted aircraft and Tomahawk” cruise missiles destroyed or damaged multiple Islamic State targets in Syria.
washingtonpost

US to Kill Tomahawk, Hellfire Missile Programs

President Barack Obama is seeking to abolish two highly successful missile programs.
The Tomahawk missile program is set to be cut by $128 million under Obama’s fiscal year 2015 budget proposal and completely eliminated by fiscal year 2016.
In addition to the monetary cuts to the program, the number of actual Tomahawk missiles acquired by the United States would drop significantly—from 196 last year to just 100 in 2015. The number will then drop to zero in 2016.
The Navy will also be forced to cancel its acquisition of the well-regarded and highly effective Hellfire missiles in 2015.
The proposed elimination of these missile programs came as a shock to lawmakers and military experts, who warned ending cutting these missiles would significantly erode America’s ability to deter enemy forces.
The U.S. Navy relied heavily on them during the 2011 military incursion into Libya, where some 220 Tomahawks were used during the fight.
Nearly 100 of these missiles are used each year on average, meaning that the sharp cuts will cause the Tomahawk stock to be completely depleted by around 2018. This is particularly concerning to defense experts because the Pentagon does not have a replacement missile ready to take the Tomahawk’s place.
The administration seems to be taking the millions typically spent on the Tomahawk program and investing it in an experimental missile program that experts say will not be battle ready for at least 10 years.
Navy experts and retired officials fear that the elimination of the Tomahawk and Hellfire systems—and the lack of a battle-ready replacement—will jeopardize the U.S. Navy’s supremacy as it faces increasingly advanced militaries from North Korea to the Middle East.
freebeacon

UK retires ALARM missile

The UK Ministry of Defence has confirmed the final retirement of the Air-Launched Anti-Radiation Missile (ALARM), a move which leaves the Royal Air Force (RAF) without a dedicated defence suppression weapon.
ALARM was developed provide RAF Tornados with a defence suppression capability. Completing development trials in October 1990, the missile made its operational debut in the 1991 Gulf War, with more than 120 missiles fired as part of Operation 'Granby'.
ALARM was subsequently used in support of NATO's Operation 'Allied Force' over Serbia and Kosovo in 1999.
An ALARM seeker mid-life update, introduced to meet Staff Requirement (Air) 1247, saw an improved anti-radiation homing seeker enter service in the early 2000s. This version of ALARM was employed by Tornado GR.4 aircraft during Operation 'Telic' in 2003.
In a statement, the Ministry of Defence confirmed that "the ALARM missile, used for the Suppression of Enemy Air Defences [SEAD], was retired from service at the end of December 2013".
They added: "UK armed forces have a range of capabilities that can be used to counter enemy air defence, including kinetic strikes via long-range cruise missiles, such as Tomahawk and Storm Shadow, and a multitude of highly effective precision air-to-ground weapons.
janes

Italy Plans €6B Ship Buy

The Italian Navy has secured funding for 10 large ships it plans to build rapidly over the next decade as the bulk of the current fleet goes out of service.
Italy’s 2014 state budget, approved in late December, contains a €5.8 billion funding package for the new vessels, mainly a new multipurpose ship conceived by Navy planners to fight wars as well as handle humanitarian relief operations.
The work will likely go to Italian shipyard Fincantieri.
Construction of the first vessel would take two years, with a launch in three, delivery in four and entry into service in five years.
The amphibious ship would replace one of three aging landing platform dock vessels and make good on a procurement plan for such a vessel that has been on standby for a number of years.
The Navt needs the new ships to be finalized as soon as possible, since 50 of the Navy’s 60 vessels will go out of service in the next decade.
The Navy received a large amount of funds for fleet renewal in the 1970s, it is no coincidence that many ships are heading out of service around the same time, making a second round of large investment essential.
The baseline design offers two cannons — a 127mm gun in the bow and a 76mm gun at the stern — along with a hangar for two NH90 helicopters, the option of carrying containers or small boats on deck, and a varying number of launch cells for the Aster 30 missile. Some of the vessels could mount the Scalp Naval missile, or the Tomahawk cruise missile.
defensenews

DARPA Testing New Ship-Killing Missile

The Pentagon’s advanced research arm is developing a smarter and deadlier ship-killing missile, capable of evading interceptors and striking capital ships at long range. And it recently reached a new live-fire milestone.
In an Aug. 27 test, an Air Force B-1B bomber fired an inert long-range anti-ship missile (LRASM)that homed in on a moving ship target and tore through its stacked metal containers for a direct hit. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which is overseeing the development, intends to design these anti-ship missiles to be fired from the B-1B and Navy F/A-18 Super Hornets. A sea-launched version would be fired from a cruiser or destroyer’s missile magazines.
The missile packs a punch: Its 1,000-pound warhead is double the size of the fleet’s primary anti-ship missile, the Harpoon, and could strike targets beyond 200 nautical miles away.
"It’s designed to take out capital ships that are in a formation, a surface action group,” said the program manager of the anti-ship missile at Lockheed Martin.
The anti-ship missiles fly at subsonic speeds and rely on stealth to defeat jammers and intercept missiles.
The anti-ship missile is a capability leap past the Harpoon, which has a 75-mile range and cannot be redirected in flight. The newer anti-ship missile is also more stealthy and likely to survive countermissile interceptors and bullets. And by being fired from vertical launch system tubes, the missiles can be heavier and go farther than a Harpoon.
LASRM can be shot in “fire and forget” mode or it can be directed to an area, where it will find the target on its own. It can also be sent new directions in-flight, much like a Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile and is a stealthy missile.
defensenews

Realizadas con éxito pruebas de nueva cabeza para misil Tomahawk/ U.S. Navy Completes First Test of New Warhead for Tomahawk Block IV Missile

La US. Navy realizó la primera prueba real de la nueva munición para el misil de crucero táctico Tomahawk Block IV. La munición (Multi-Effects Warhead System-JMEWS), cumplió todos los objetivos propuesto.
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The U.S. Navy completed the first live test of the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System (JMEWS), meeting all performance objectives for the new warhead for the Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missile.
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Estados Unidos retirará sus misiles nucleares Tomahawk /US retiring nuclear Tomahawk missiles

Estados Unidos retirará sus misiles nucleares Tomahawk en un par de años, debido a que piensa que existen otros mejores maneras de defender el Noroeste de Asia.
La supresión del misil, apoyada politicamente en el pasado, es uno de los cambios políticos anunciados por el presidente Obama en la política nuclear de Estados Unidos, tendente a reducir el arsenal de armas nucleares.
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The United States will retire its sea-based nuclear Tomahawk missiles within a few years, believing it has other ways to defend Northeast Asia, a Pentagon official said Wednesday.
The elimination of the missile -- supported in the past by some policymakers in Japan and South Korea -- was part of a policy shift announced Tuesday by President Barack Obama's administration to reduce the role of nuclear weapons.