Block 4 Tomahawks will seek mobile targets
11 May 2009
The latest Block 4 version of the US Tomahawk (BGM-109 Block 4) cruise missile is an upgraded version that can go after moving targets. Such capability is primarily intended to convert the Tomahawk into an anti-ship missile, though it is being given to understand that the missile will be capable of taking on mobile land targets as well.
The Block 4 weighs 1.4 tons and carries a half ton warhead over a range of 1,500 kilometers. It has a high sub-sonic speed of 880 kilometers an hour and will cost the US armed services about $1.7 million each.
Some 1,300 Block 4 Tomahawks have been produced over the last four years, and overall about 6,000 Tomahawks have been produced in all configurations since production first began 26 years ago.
The United States is also developing a successor to the Tomahawk, the Cruise Missile XR (Extended Range), that will be heavier (2.2 tons), have a longer range (2,000 kilometers) and carry a one ton warhead, which is twice the size of the current warheads. It will also be stealthier and use a combination of guidance and targeting systems.
The price would probably be twice that of the current Tomahawks as well.
The XR, however, is expected to run into fierce competition from armed UAVs or UCAVs that carry bombs and missiles and are reusable.