March 22, 2011
Bangkok (www.thairath.co.th/http://www.fas.org) - Tomahawk was used
extensively during Desert Storm in 1991, in Iraq in January and June 1993, in
Bosnia (Deliberate Force) in 1995 and in Iraq (Desert Strike) in 1996. Four
hundred Block II and Block III missiles were fired on five separate occasions.
The US Navy decided to use its Tomahawk missiles against Libyan government led by Muammar Gadhafi who suppressed protesting citizens.
Tomahawk, an all-weather submarine or ship-launched land attack cruise missile, has been used to attack a variety of fixed targets.
It has inertial and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) radar guidance. Using a stored map, the TERCOM radar compares the targeted image to the actual terrain to find out the missile's proper position.
The radar guidance is based on the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system, which compares a stored image of target with the actual target image.
Tomahawk missile, researched and developed by General Dynamics since the Cold War in 1970s, is currently manufactured by Raytheon and partly
manufactured by McDonnell Douglas plant. Its price is approximately 22 million
baht.
Only naval (both surface ship and submarine) launched variants are in use at the moment. The missile consists of a number of subsonic, jet engine-powered missiles. Tomahawk allows a a wide variety of warhead, guidance and range capabilities with modular design, according to wikipedia website.
