Royal Navy will upgrade the existing Tomahawk Weapons Systems
WASHINGTON — The British government has decided to upgrade the TWS Block IV [Tomahawk Weapons System] of the Royal Navy, for which it will pay an estimated cost of $ 368.53 million to the United States. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced the order on its website, and Congress was also notified.
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DSCA says the Royal Navy will receive support in all three segments of the Tomahawk Weapons System – All Up Round [AUR], Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System [TTWCS], and Theater Mission Planning Center [TMPC]. This will allow Britain to re-certify its Tomahawk missile inventory.
The price of the order includes delivery of spare parts, software, hardware, staff training, operational flight tests, communication equipment, and more. Performed by Raytheon Missiles and Defense, Tucson, Arizona.
The proposed sale will increase the combat capability of the Royal Navy, including the compatibility of US naval forces with other allied forces. Britain has long been an operator of Tomahawk missiles, and this is an advantage because it will have no difficulty integrating or using them.
Tomahawk Weapons System
Britain has been the operator of Tomahawk missiles since 1995. During the Kosovo war in 1999, the Royal Navy used the missile for the first time, launching it from a submarine. A few years later, the United States offered Britain to buy the Tomahawk Block IV or TacTom. London first bought 64 missiles in 2004, and ten years later acquired another 65.
Tomahawk is a missile for all conditions with a long-range. It can be launched from different media, which makes it preferred. In addition to cruise missiles, Tomahawk can be an anti-ship, land-attack missile, or surface to surface missile. The missile first entered service in 1983 in the US Navy. Tomahawk is an American-made missile.
Tomahawk weighs 1,300 kg, but if launched with a booster reaches 1,600 kg. Tomahawk can carry a nuclear warhead [W80 with an explosive power of 5-150kT], a conventional warhead, or be used as a submunition with a combined effect BLU-97 / B or PBXN.
The rocket is powered by a Williams International F107-WR-402 turbofan using TH-dimer fuel and a solid-fuel rocket booster. Block IV as a model of armament in the Royal Navy has an operational range of 1000+ miles [1600+ km]. The maximum speed it can reach is subsonic or more precisely ~ Mach 0.74. about 567.7 mph [493.3 kn; 913.6 km / h].
The missile can be launched vertically, from a submarine, from a ship, and from a torpedo tube. Missile guidance systems include GPS, INS, TERCOM, DSMAC, and active radar homing.
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