TECH

What are Tomahawk missiles used by the US

The United States led a missile strike against the Bashar Al Assad regime in Syria over the weekend. The goal, according to US President Donald Trump, was to reach warehouses for the production and storage of chemical weapons.
Three targets were hit. The operation was in response to the alleged use of chemical weapons against the population in the Syrian city of Douma last week. The United States, France and the United Kingdom accuse President Assad of the chemical attack. The Syrian government denies using chemical weapons and says the allegations were fabricated.
To retaliate, the US has again opted for the Tomahawk missiles - which Washington has been using for more than 20 years when it needs to conduct a ranged attack with a fair degree of accuracy.

High accuracy and long range
Washington uses the Tomahawks when he needs to make attacks from a safe distance.The missiles can reach targets up to 1,000 miles away. Designed to fly at low altitudes, they reach the speed of 885 km / h - that is, they can reach the maximum distance in up to 2 hours.Each missile measures more than six meters in length and weighs about a ton and a half. The warheads (explosive charges) weigh up to 454 kg.Using GPS technology to navigate the terrain, the equipment has high accuracy. Although it can fail - with tragic consequences - its estimated margin of error is 10 meters.The missile is usually launched from the sea - from ships or submarines.Chris Harmer, a defense analyst and former US Navy officer, told The Washington Post that the Tomahawks' explosive power is less than that of other explosive devices launched from manned aircraft, but that it matters little if the mission objective is destroying aircraft on land or rendering them incapacitated.

The missile is produced by the Raytheon Company, a North American conglomerate of armaments and electronic equipment industries for military use.
It is the world's largest producer of guided missiles, although it has already announced that it intends to diversify its business. The company has been embroiled in controversy over industrial espionage and data theft.
According to Raytheon, Tomahawk is the "most advanced guided missile in the world" and has been used more than 2,000 times in combat.

Since the Gulf War
The United States began using Tomahawks in the Gulf War in the 1990s when a country-led coalition invaded Iraq in a military operation known as "Desert Storm."The weapon also played a central role in Libya in 2011 during NATO operations against the government of Muammar Gaddafi.In 2014, the US used the missiles in Syria for the first time in an operation against the extremist group calling itself the Islamic State (EI).At the time, the Pentagon released 47 Tomahawks from two ships that were in the Persian Gulf and the Red Sea.Another attack from the Red Sea was made in October 2016, when the Pentagon had bombed three radar installations in Yemen.In 2017, 59 Tomahawk missiles were dropped from two US vessels in the Mediterranean against a Syrian air base. It was a military action similar to the weekend: a response to the use of chemical weapons by the Assad government in the city of Khan Shaykhun.

bbc.com