US Navy awards contract to leading arms producer, ‘Raytheon’ to manufacture 100 Tomahawk missiles

Washington: The US navy has posted an urgent requirement of the Tomahawk missiles being used for making fierce attacks on military bases in Syria. The US navy awarded a contract to the leading arms manufacturer, ‘Raytheon’ for the manufacture of 100 Tomahawk long range missiles. The increased demand for the Tomahawk missiles that can go undetected even under the Russian air defence systems installed in Syria, seems to be a warning for Russia.

Demand for the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles which has been performing important tasks for the US navy for the last few years, has increased. In the last one and a half years, the US navy has demanded for more than 800 Tomahawk missiles. Due to this, the navy has modified its contract with Raytheon three times so far. Last Friday it placed a new order for 100 Tomahawk missiles at a cost of $140 million. The delivery status of the previously ordered 700 missiles is still not confirmed. But as per the reports, the new demand of the US navy will be fulfilled by 2020.

The Fifth and the Seventh fleets of the US navy have destroyers equipped with Tomahawk missiles. Out of these, the destroyers in the US Fifth fleet are deployed in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea. The destroyers in the US Seventh fleet similarly equipped with Tomahawk missiles are deployed in the Japanese marine limits patrolling the South China Sea.

Last year the destroyers, USS Ross and USS Porter had carried out a fierce Tomahawk missile attack on the Shayrat base located in the city of Homs in Syria. The US destroyers had fired 59 Tomahawk missiles and destroyed 20 airplanes. Last month the military bases in the Syrian capital of Damascus and Homs were attacked with 66 Tomahawk missiles. The Russian air defence system fired 40 rockets to stop these missiles. Russia also claimed that the Syrian rockets were successful in targeting the United States missiles. The United States army had refuted the Russian claims and made a counter claim that the Russian systems had completely failed to stop the United States missiles.

Against this background, the US navy’s fresh demand for Tomahawk is looked at very seriously.

Tomahawk Missiles

These missiles which are launched from the submarines or destroyers are considered to be a chief weapon in the US Navy’s armoury. The US Navy has fired more than 2100 Tomahawk missiles in the wars it had participated in, since 1991. Out of these, 802 missiles were fired at various locations in Iraq considered to be Saddam Hussain’s bases and other terrorist bases, in the war declared by the United States against terrorism.

The current Tomahawk Block-4 missiles are claimed to be super advanced and have a big destruction capacity. These missiles have a capability to carry smaller nuclear explosives. However, the United States has never carried out any nuclear attacks with these missiles, so far.

These missiles are capable of entering the enemy airspace by dodging the air defence systems. The missile target can be changed according to the war situation even after launch as the missiles are guided by a satellite-based system. The military analysts have claimed that these missiles can be used like an aircraft to fly over a particular area and send data about the place to the destroyers through satellite links.