Tomahawk Missile

In unleashing a barrage of cruise missiles, the U.S. military on Thursday turned once again to a weapon that, despite limited punch, has become a favorite of Pentagon planners for its speed, stealth and low risk. The Tomahawk cruise missile, at a price tag of $1.2 million each, can be programmed to hit targets 1,000 miles away without jeopardizing the safety of pilots or aircraft. "With the Tomahawks, there's no risk," said Army Col.

After using more than a third of its inventory of Tomahawk cruise missiles in the first 12 days of the war in Iraq, the Pentagon is scrambling to replenish the supply and has asked missile maker Raytheon Corp. to accelerate production of a new generation of the weapon. Since the war began March 20, the Navy has launched more than 740 cruise missiles, leaving about 1,150 in its arsenal, raising concerns that if the pace continues there will not be enough for possible future conflicts.

The Navy's cruise missile office said Monday that it plans to go to a single supplier for the Tomahawk cruise missile in fiscal 1994, a decision that could affect more than 1,000 Southern California jobs. The single-source plan for the Tomahawk, a sea-launched weapon that earned a measure of fame in the Persian Gulf War last year, is an example of how shrinking defense budgets are causing a consolidation and restructuring among arms makers.

A Tomahawk cruise missile malfunctioned during U.S.-led strikes on Baghdad, spiraling above the destroyer John S. McCain before plunging into the sea and spitting burning fuel across the water, an officer said. It narrowly missed the ship. At least 320 Tomahawks were launched from ships and submarines in the Persian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Mediterranean, the military said. The malfunctioning missile turned in tight circles and suddenly rocketed into the water.

Demolition experts in Pakistan's army on Saturday destroyed a second unexploded U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile that fell in southwestern Pakistan after being fired at Afghanistan last week, the official APP news agency reported. It quoted official sources as saying the missile, one of several fired Aug. 20 on suspected Islamic terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, was found in the remote Hoshab sub-district of the Mekran coastal area, off the Arabian Sea.

In choosing to launch a Tomahawk cruise missile attack on Iraq's intelligence headquarters, President Clinton and the Pentagon leadership picked the least risky of a variety of military options for dealing with what they consider the outlaw regime in Baghdad. The raid was designed to cause the fewest possible civilian casualties in Iraq while putting no U.S. military personnel in harm's way.

Two of the most celebrated weapons of the Persian Gulf War, the Air Force F-117A Stealth attack jet and the Navy Tomahawk cruise missile, struck considerably fewer of their targets than military officials have asserted publicly, according to the most recent classified analysis.

With a thunderous explosion followed by a ceremonial cutting of cake, the world's most exclusive missile club welcomed its second member Wednesday. The British submarine Splendid became the first non-U.S. Navy ship to fire a fully armed Tomahawk cruise missile. From a position 500 miles to the west, the test scored a direct hit on a warehouse-sized structure on this barren island off San Diego and missed its predicted impact point by only three inches. "Good show, very vivid," said Adm.

The Navy says it will seek private-sector bids for the bulk of its weapons-handling operations nationwide, raising the prospect that outside firms would load and inventory Tomahawk missiles, torpedoes and other powerful ammunition. The bidding effort is still in its early stages at a half-dozen bases, including the sprawling Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach, which is the busiest munitions depot on the West Coast.

Some of the reasons for General Dynamics' decision to sell its missile operations to Hughes Aircraft are obvious. But beyond the shrinking defense budget and the resulting tougher competition for contracts are sweeping changes in bidding procedures that would have frozen out the San Diego operation.

The Navy says it will seek private-sector bids for the bulk of its weapons-handling operations nationwide, raising the prospect that outside firms would load and inventory Tomahawk missiles, torpedoes and other powerful ammunition. The bidding effort is still in its early stages at a half-dozen bases, including the sprawling Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach, which is the busiest munitions depot on the West Coast.

With a thunderous explosion followed by a ceremonial cutting of cake, the world's most exclusive missile club welcomed its second member Wednesday. The British submarine Splendid became the first non-U.S. Navy ship to fire a fully armed Tomahawk cruise missile. From a position 500 miles to the west, the test scored a direct hit on a warehouse-sized structure on this barren island off San Diego and missed its predicted impact point by only three inches. "Good show, very vivid," said Adm.

Demolition experts in Pakistan's army on Saturday destroyed a second unexploded U.S. Tomahawk cruise missile that fell in southwestern Pakistan after being fired at Afghanistan last week, the official APP news agency reported. It quoted official sources as saying the missile, one of several fired Aug. 20 on suspected Islamic terrorist targets in Afghanistan and Sudan, was found in the remote Hoshab sub-district of the Mekran coastal area, off the Arabian Sea.

In unleashing a barrage of cruise missiles, the U.S. military on Thursday turned once again to a weapon that, despite limited punch, has become a favorite of Pentagon planners for its speed, stealth and low risk. The Tomahawk cruise missile, at a price tag of $1.2 million each, can be programmed to hit targets 1,000 miles away without jeopardizing the safety of pilots or aircraft. "With the Tomahawks, there's no risk," said Army Col.

President Clinton ordered the initial airstrikes after Saddam Hussein reportedly ignored demands to cease an attack against Kurds in northern Iraq and withdraw his troops. Expanding a "no-fly" zone over southern Iraq will further limit the reach of Hussein's army. THE FIRST ROUND A total of 27 missiles were fired from aircraft and ships. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf launched 14 Tomahawk missiles against the sites in southern Iraq. Two B-52s flying from Guam launched 13 cruise missiles.

Stepping up pressure on the defiant Bosnian Serbs, a U.S. Navy warship launched a battery of sophisticated Tomahawk cruise missiles late Sunday against the rebels' antiaircraft installations in northern Bosnia, NATO officials said. Thirteen Tomahawks--expensive and precise weapons that are said to defy bad weather--were fired from the guided-missile cruiser Normandy in the Adriatic Sea toward the Bosnian Serb-held city of Banja Luka.

U.S. warplanes Friday pummeled Iraqi troops and armored vehicles moving along the Kuwaiti border with Saudi Arabia, but the aim of the Iraqi movement remained unclear. U.S. and Saudi officials said allied forces seized at least 400 Iraqi prisoners of war in two days of clashes in and near the Saudi town of Khafji that ended Thursday night. Also Friday, officials confirmed that an AC-130 Spectre gunship had been shot down in southern Iraq early Thursday.

U.S. warships, acting two years to the day after the outbreak of the Persian Gulf War, unleashed a barrage of 40 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a nuclear fabricating plant on the outskirts of Baghdad on Sunday in a continuing effort to force Saddam Hussein to comply with U.N. resolutions.

Allied military commanders are prepared to use Tomahawk cruise missiles to knock out Serbian air defenses in northwest Bosnia if the rebels do not ease their siege of Sarajevo, U.S. officials said Friday. The attacks, which could come within days despite an accord forged by the warring parties in Geneva on Friday, would be launched from U.S. Navy vessels stationed in the Adriatic Sea.

Hughes Aircraft Co., besting McDonnell Douglas Corp. in one of the most closely watched Pentagon contests of the year, was picked Friday to be the sole builder of Tomahawk missiles in a contract valued at nearly $1 billion. The Navy award calls for Los Angeles-based Hughes to build about 1,000 missiles over the next five years, assuming all the options on the contract are exercised.