Raytheon Nets $400m Order For More Tomahawk Missiles

Defence contractor Raytheon has secured an order worth almost $402 million to produce 131 Block V Tomahawk cruise missiles.

The deal was announced recently via a press statement on the U.S, Department of Defense (DoD) website. As per the Pentagon statement, the majority of the missiles — 78 in total — will be sold to Japan. A further 11 will be sold to Australia. Of the remaining 42 missiles, 26 are destined for the U.S. Army and the remaining 16 will be supplied to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The Tomahawk is a long-range subsonic cruise missile used mainly by the U.S. Navy and Royal Navy, although it is also supplied to selected other international allies. Early iterations of the missile have been in use since the 1970s and are designed to hit land targets.

The latest Block V variants, introduced from 2021, cost in excess of $2 million per unit. They have longer range and dynamic targeting, and can also be used to hit vessels at sea as well as land targets, depending on payload.

They can be fired from a range of platforms including submarines, warships, and the ground-based Typhon missile launcher. 

• You can read the full details of the new contract on the U.S. DoD website