US to deploy anti-ship Tomahawk missiles for submarines

The "sea attack" version of the Tomahawk missile will be equipped on US submarines from October 1, 2024, Bloomberg on December 5 quoted program manager Jon Hersey as saying.

The Los Angeles-class submarine USS Annapolis launches a Tomahawk cruise missile in 2018.

The Tomahawk is a land-attack missile manufactured by Raytheon. The anti-ship version will be equipped with a new guidance system that allows it to attack moving targets at sea, Hersey said. The first batch was delivered to the Navy last year for testing before being put into service.

The missiles will be deployed on the Los Angeles and Virginia-class nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines. Each can carry 12 land-attack Tomahawks, but some of the improved Virginia-class boats can carry up to 40 missiles.

Brent Sadler, senior fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at the Heritage Foundation, a US think tank, said the new anti-ship Tomahawk has a range of up to 1,600 km. He said Japan could also deploy this type of missile. The US State Department recently reported to Congress on the approval of a potential deal to sell 200 Tomahawk land-attack missiles for $2.35 billion to Tokyo.

The US anti-ship arsenal now includes an improved SM-6 air defense missile, which can be launched from B-1B bombers and F/A-18 fighter jets operating from aircraft carriers. The US Navy is also deploying the Boeing-made Harpoon anti-ship missile.

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The US plan to deploy the anti-ship Tomahawk also coincides with the deployment of thousands of Replicator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) to the Indo-Pacific region. Specifically, the Pentagon plans to deploy this type of UAV on a large scale from February to August 2025.

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