sstrazdu@hopi.intel.com (Stephen Strazdus) (01/24/91)
From: sstrazdu@hopi.intel.com (Stephen Strazdus) Many people have been asking for more information about Tomahawk missiles. I worked for McDonnell Douglas for about a year on the Tomahawk program, so I'll tell you what I can. There are two basic types of Tomahawks. The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM pronounced tee-lam) is the one being used in Iraq. These are launched from ships and subs at targets on land. The Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile (TASM pronounced tasm) has a very different guidance system. I doubt this one has been used. There used to be a land based version with a nuclear warhead, but these missiles were among the first to go in the recent wave of disarmament. I don't believe there are any land based conventional Tomahawks, but I could be wrong. We still have ship and sub based Tomahawks with nuclear warheads however. (hope we don't use them though). Finally I have seen reports in the press of Air launched Tomahawks. These do not exist. Boeing makes an Air Launched Cruise Missile, but it is not a Tomahawk. The TLAM guidance system is made by Litton, with components from other contractors. Basically there is an inertial guidance system (gyros). We know this is innacurate, witness the Scuds. But the course is corrected at intervals by two mapping techniques. One technique is to use a one dimensional profile of the land directly beneath the flight path. The contours are determined by radar. The other technique is a two dimensional picture of the ground. I don't know which technique or both was used, and it would probably be secret even if I did. Note that there is not a map of the entire flight path stored in the missile, only certain areas along the way. These areas are used to correct the inertial guidance system. The TASM guidance system does not have these mapping capabilities. That would be pretty useless. Instead it has target seeking systems which I am not very familiar with.