Tactical Tomahawk

zjz said:
IIRC, the design was to improve hydrodynamic feature to make it better sail through the underwater phase .... I may be wrong though .....
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I stand corrected, it was for RCS reduction ....

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Why are some Tomahawk missiles' nose duck-nose shaped?

Why there is a duck-like shape in this Tomahawk missile's nose? I see this shape in most Tomahawk images; however, not every Tomahawk's nose is shaped like this. If it is an aerodynamic feature, ...
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Presumably Aus and Japanese tomahawks are new builds? As opposed to USN Blk V which is an upgrade kit and recertification of blk IV?
 
Forest Green said:

Navy to buy over 1,000 anti-ship Maritime Strike Tomahawks, wants missiles ASAP despite development issues | InsideDefense.com

The Navy has unveiled plans to procure over 1,000 of a developing anti-ship Tomahawk missile variant in the coming years, with the service looking to begin fielding this long-range, precision-strike capability as soon as possible to counter Chinese warships.
insidedefense.com insidedefense.com
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I am not a subscriber…just briefly, would these be new builds or kit modifications of existing blk IVs like the current blk V? I think there are only around ~2000 existing TacToms, so I would assume new production necessary. MST/blk Va purchases to date have been rather anemic, though I presume basic blk V has some inherent anti ship capabilities even if it falls short of MST. If nothing else a good IIR sensor should allow it to be a re-targetable super NSM.
 
IIRC, the mid-life upgrade for Blk 4 to 5/a/b has been ongoing for a while now .... so the money for the upgrades should have been budgeted for in previous fiscal years ......

I bet the reported numbers are new builds, with some going to foreign sales ...... good time to buy more now that there is economy of scale ....
 
I mean, any given carrier group packs about 150 Tomahawks (12 groups but assume two are in shipyard and unloaded), 50 fast attacks carry at least a dozen each, and the four SSGNs each pack 150, so the total inventory loaded onboard ships runs at least 2700, plus however many you want to keep in storage for reloading. I know I'd want at least one full reload per ship just for minimum stockpiles, and in times of increasing tension I'd want more than that.
 
Scott Kenny said:
I mean, any given carrier group packs about 150 Tomahawks (12 groups but assume two are in shipyard and unloaded), 50 fast attacks carry at least a dozen each, and the four SSGNs each pack 150, so the total inventory loaded onboard ships runs at least 2700, plus however many you want to keep in storage for reloading. I know I'd want at least one full reload per ship just for minimum stockpiles, and in times of increasing tension I'd want more than that.
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Only the ships/boats at sea actually need to be carrying. The SSGNs also usually carry lighter loads and instead wear dry deck shelters; I think it’s 112.

I’m pretty sure I read once that the blk 4 inventory was 2000 but I cannot find any references to current levels now.
 
Josh_TN said:
Only the ships/boats at sea actually need to be carrying.
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Which is 8 carrier groups out of 12. 4 at sea and 4 getting ready to be at sea doing workups, so I'd assume they are fully loaded as well.

Same 2/3rds estimate would apply to subs.


Josh_TN said:
The SSGNs also usually carry lighter loads and instead wear dry deck shelters; I think it’s 112.
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Fair, I wasn't sure how often the GNs were carrying DDS. (Loss of the ASDS was tragic)


Josh_TN said:
I’m pretty sure I read once that the blk 4 inventory was 2000 but I cannot find any references to current levels now.
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I'm still assuming "a full load for all ships plus at least one full reload" minimum.
 
I was under the impression that only 2-3 CSGs were on station usually, with 1-2 doing work ups and quals at any time, with ship and sub sortie rates similar (outside Ohios).

I would not assume that the USN actually planned far enough ahead to have the kind of inventory you mention; isn’t the VLASROC inventory a few hundred with the small pool of weapons constantly cross decked?
 
Josh_TN said:
I was under the impression that only 2-3 CSGs were on station usually, with 1-2 doing work ups and quals at any time, with ship and sub sortie rates similar (outside Ohios).
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The USN has 12 carriers.

4 at sea, 4 in shipyard, 4 in workups. (and technically, one carrier more or less always around Japan. One is homeported there, and all the others rotate through for port visits when the Japan-based carrier is deployed.)

Same rule applies to anything but SSBNs.



Josh_TN said:
I would not assume that the USN actually planned far enough ahead to have the kind of inventory you mention; isn’t the VLASROC inventory a few hundred with the small pool of weapons constantly cross decked?
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Ships only carry ~6x VLAs each.

74x DDG51s in service times 6 weapons each is only 450 weapons, but let's drop to 50 ships at sea or in workups which makes 300 on ship. Plus they're basically not being expended like Tomahawks or Standards are, so you might get away with ~500 total in inventory.
 

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