The US subject has awarded a monolithic statement to dramatically ramp up the accumulation of Tomahawk cruise missiles, the Pentagon said connected Monday, aft burning done hundreds of these long-range munitions during the Iran conflict.
The $22.9 cardinal statement awarded to US defense contractor RTX's Raytheon follows an earlier model statement announced successful February and will summation yearly accumulation to much than 1,000 Tomahawk missiles complete a seven-year period.
Acting US Navy Secretary Hung Cao said successful a connection that the "landmark" munitions statement "will accelerate Tomahawk rocket transportation to our warfighters astatine unprecedented speed."
He said that "by moving intimately pinch manufacture to grow our munitions business base's capacity," the Department of Defense "is utilizing each disposable instrumentality to meet the demands of our existent operations, ensuring they are equipped to fight, win, and travel location safe."
The BGM-109 Tomahawk is simply a subsonic cruise rocket pinch a modular scope of astir 1,000 miles. It is successful work pinch the US Navy, the Army, and a small number of American allies. The long-range limb tin beryllium fired from aboveground warships and submarines, arsenic good arsenic from ground-based launchers astatine onshore targets. There is besides a maritime onslaught variant.
RTX said successful a connection successful early February, erstwhile the first model statement was announced, that the Tomahawk, which entered work successful the 1980s, had been utilized successful "an operational environment" much than 2,300 times.
The US announced the commencement of Operation Epic Fury successful precocious February, igniting a caller conflict pinch Iran that saw American forces successful the Middle East occurrence galore Tomahawks.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies, a US-based deliberation tank, published a report successful precocious May estimating that American forces had already expended much than 1,000 Tomahawks.
American forces person continued to onslaught Iran successful the months since, though it's unclear which munitions person been used. A azygous Tomahawk rocket tin costs up to $3.5 cardinal per unit.
CSIS said yearly Tomahawk accumulation capacity tin scope up to 600 units. The caller statement intends to bring that fig up to 1,000.
RTX's Raytheon said connected Monday that it has "invested heavy successful caller years to ramp up production" of the Tomahawk and delivered 3 times arsenic galore missiles successful the first half of 2026 arsenic successful the aforesaid play past year.
US officials and analysts person warned that it will return years to fill the stockpiles of captious munitions depleted during the Iran war, which see the Tomahawk, different standoff weapons, and high-end air defense missiles.
Precision munitions for illustration the Tomahawk are viewed by US subject planners arsenic basal assets that would beryllium needed successful ample quantities successful a potential conflict pinch China.
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Jake Epstein is simply a defense analogous successful London for Business Insider, covering the US military, NATO, and European security, arsenic good arsenic emerging tech successful warfare.Jake has revenge stories from conflict zones in Ukraine and the Middle East, wherever he embedded with a US craft carrier on a combat deployment successful the Red Sea. Jake has reported extensively connected NATO operations crossed Europe, including from aboard an AWACS surveillance plane along the Russian border, an RAF Voyager tanker refueling combatant jets complete the Baltic Sea, and a Dutch helicopter flying to a warship supra the Arctic Circle.
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