Military & Aerospace Electronics

Raytheon to upgrade venerable Tomahawk missile for next-gen, anti-ship role

BY John Keller

PATUXENT RIVER NAS, Md. — Smart munitions experts at the Raytheon Co. are upgrading the venerable Tomahawk land-attack missile (TLAM) for the anti-ship role with a new sensor system to enable the weapon to attack moving enemy ships at sea.

Officials of the U.S. Naval Air Systems Command at Patuxent River Naval Air Station, Md., announced a $119 million order to the Raytheon Missile Systems segment in Tucson, Ariz., to integrate seeker suite technology and processing capabilities into the Tactical Tomahawk Block IV missile in support of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk Program.

The order provides for analysis, trade studies, architecture, modeling, simulation development, evaluation, and prototyping activities for an anti-ship missile version of the Tomahawk, which will be called the Maritime Strike Tomahawk variant.

Raytheon and Navy experts are determining the most appropriate type of sensor for the Maritime Strike Tomahawk. It could be a multi-mode seeker with a mix of passive and active sensors.

The upgrade of Tomahawk land-attack missiles to maritime strike variants also will involve warhead enhancements, and technology to enable the new missiles to operate in areas where GPS satellite navigation signals are jammed or otherwise inoperative.

The first of the Maritime Attack Tomahawk missiles should be ready by the early 2020s. A supersonic version of the Tomahawk with a ramjet to increase its speed to Mach 3 is under consideration. On this order, Raytheon will do the work in Tucson, Ariz.; Dallas; Boulder, Colo.; and at other locations, and should be finished by August 2019. Í

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Raytheon is working with the Navy to upgrade the venerable Tomahawk cruise missile to attack moving targets and perhaps fill a next-generation, anti-ship missile need.