norton@manta.nosc.mil (Scott Norton) (04/25/91)
From: norton@manta.nosc.mil (Scott Norton) The 29 Apr 1991 Navy Times reports an 80% hit rate for Tomahawks during Desert Storm, and reiterates the 50 hits from the first 51 missiles fired, on the first night of the war. According to the report, the Navy attempted to launch 297 missiles from 15 surface ships and submarines. 282 successfully achieved flight, 9 failed to leave the tube, and six splashed right after launch. Of those that flew, up to 20 may have failed to reach their targets due to failures in flight, but at least three were shot down by Iraqi AAA. The article indicates that guidance failures caused by damage to the targets or TERCOM mapped areas were not a factor in misses, but that claim is not substantiated. I think they are just accepting the word of the "senior naval officials." I would think it hard to tell if a miss were due to guidence failure or airframe failure. After all, they didn't have chase planes on these launches. LT Scott A. Norton <norton@NOSC.MIL>