The Navy on Dec. 16 awarded Raytheon Technologies [RTX] a $171 million modification to procure another 111 full rate production Block V Tactical Tomahawk All Up Round Vertical Launch System missiles for three military services.
The award is split between 50 missiles for the Army, 48 for the Navy and 13 for the Marine Corps.
This comes after Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) originally awarded Raytheon a $217 million contract for 154 Tactical Tomahawks across the services in May (Defense Daily, May 25).
At the time, Tomahawk Weapons System Program Manager (PMA-280) Capt. John Red said that was a “major accomplishment for the program” and covered Lot 18 missiles that expanded integration of the Tomahawks into new firing platforms for the Marine Corps and Army.
The Block V missiles include navigation and communications upgrades that include a capability for in-flight updates. The Block V capabilities are planned to ultimately include the new Maritime Strike Tomahawk variant, called Block Va, and the Joint Multiple Effects Warhead System (JMEWS), called Block Vb.
The Maritime Strike Tomahawk variant is meant to be launched from surface ships and submarines while the JMEWS will include a warhead with blast-fragmentation and enhanced penetration capabilities.
The current Tactical Tomahawks are launched as long-range offensive weapons against fixed and mobile targets from surface, subsurface or ground platforms.
Production work is expected to be finished by November 2025.
This contract funding is split between $77 million in the fiscal year 2023 Army research and development account, $62 million in 2023 Navy weapons procurement account, $20 million from the 2023 Marine Corps procurement and $12 million in fiscal year 2021 Navy weapons procurement. Of this funding, $12 million will expire at the end of this fiscal year.