The BGM-109 Tomahawk is an all-weather submarine or ship-launched land-attack cruise missile. After launch, a solid propellant propels the missile until a small turbofan engine takes over for the cruise portion of flight. Radar detection is difficult because of the missile's small cross-section, low altitude flight. Similarly, infrared detection is difficult because the turbofan engine emits little heat.
The Tomahawk land-attack cruise missile has been used to attack a variety of fixed targets, including air defense and communications sites, often in high-threat environments. The land attack version of Tomahawk has inertial and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) radar guidance. The TERCOM radar uses a stored map reference to compare with the actual terrain to determine the missile's position. If necessary, a course correction is then made to place the missile on course to the target. Terminal guidance in the target area is provided by the optical Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system, which compares a stored image of target with the actual target image.
Contractor: Hughes Missile Systems Co., Tucson, Ariz.
Power Plant: Williams International F107-WR-402 cruise turbo-fan engine; solid-fuel booster
Length: 5.56 meters; with booster: 6.25 meters
Weight: 1192.5 kg; 1440 kg with booster
Diameter: 51.81 cm
Wing Span: 2.67 meters
Range: Land attack, conventional warhead: 600 nautical miles
Speed: Subsonic - 880 km/h
Guidance System: Inertial and TERCOM
Warheads: Conventional: 1,000 pounds Bullpup, or
Conventional submunitions dispenser with combined effect bomblets, or
WDU-36 warhead w/ PBXN-107 explosive & FMU-148 fuze, or
200 kt. W-80 nuclear device
Date Deployed: 1983
Costs $500,000 - current production Unit Cost
$1,400,000 - average unit cost (TY$)
