Raytheon Co. and the US Navy successfully completed the second demonstration test flight (DT-1) of the Raytheon-produced Tactical Tomahawk cruise missile at the Naval Air Systems Command western test range complex in southern California.
"The resounding success of DT-1 and the entire test flight program demonstrates that the US Navy-Raytheon team will be delivering to the war fighter a strike weapon with transformational capabilities," said Capt. Bob Novak, US Navy Tomahawk All-up Round program manager. DT-1 marks the first underwater launch of the Tactical Tomahawk missile. Launched from a fixed underwater vertical launcher on San Clemente Island, the missile flew an over-water mission on the sea test range and then flew over land to prosecute targets on the China Lake Test Range.
The Tactical Tomahawk successfully met planned test objectives that included missile performance from pre-flight initialization through attack; demonstration of all flight modes, terminal maneuvers, variable dive angles and fuzing function; and Global Positioning System/Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (GPS/DSMAC) navigation. Building on the success of the first demonstration flight test August 23, the missile also successfully demonstrated GPS jamming performance, Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) processing and time of arrival performance. Tomahawk, the surface- and submarine-launched, precision strike standoff weapon, is the Navy's weapon of choice for critical, long-range precision strike mission against high value, heavily defended targets. Tomahawk will incorporate innovative technologies to provide new operational capabilities while dramatically reducing acquisition and life cycle costs. Scheduled for fleet introduction in 2004, the Tactical Tomahawk will cost less than half of a new built Block III missile and will have the capability to respond to changing battlefield conditions through the use of its loiter and mission flex features.