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Tomahawk Long-Range Cruise Missile

Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile in service with the surface ships and submarines of the US and the UK’s Royal Navy.

Long-range subsonic cruise missile

Manufacturer

US Navy and Royal Navy

Williams International F415 cruise turbo-fan

Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile in service with the surface ships and submarines of the US and the UK’s Royal Navy. Originally produced by General Dynamics, Tomahawk is currently manufactured by Raytheon.

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The Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) can strike high-value or heavily defended land targets. The Block II TLAM-A missile achieved initial operating capability in 1984. The missile was first deployed in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991.

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The Tomahawk family of missiles includes a number of variants, carrying different warheads. The UGM-109A Tomahawk (Block II TLAM-A) carries a W80 nuclear warhead.

RGM / UGM-109C (Block III TLAM-C) is a conventional unitary variant, carrying a 1,000lb-class warhead. RGM / UGM-109D (Block III TLAM-D) is a submunitions dispenser variant armed with 166 combined-effects bomblets.

RGM / UGM-109E Tomahawk (Block IV TLAM-E) is the latest member in the Tomahawk missile family. It carries a 1,000lb-class unitary warhead for a maximum range of 900nmi.

The Tomahawk Block IV missiles were converted and upgraded to Block V in 2017. The upgraded Tomahawk includes extended range, enhanced navigation and communication systems and modernised data-link radio.

The upgrades were performed at Raytheon’s Tucson, Arizona facility. The US Navy will use the upgraded Tomahawk cruise missiles beyond 2040. Raytheon was contracted to integrate the upgraded navigation and communication systems into the Block IV Tactical Tomahawk (TACTOM) missile in March 2020. The upgraded version is known as the Block V TACTOM.

The Block Va variants will be named Maritime Strike and have the capability of hitting a moving target. The Block Vb will feature the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System.

Tomahawk design features

The Tomahawk is designed to operate at very low altitudes while maintaining high-subsonic speeds. Its modular design enables the integration of numerous types of warheads, guidance and control systems.

The missile carries a nuclear or conventional payload. It can be armed with a nuclear or unitary warhead or a conventional submunitions dispenser with combined-effect bomblets. The missile has a 5.56m length, 51.8cm diameter and a 2.67m wingspan. The weight of the missile is 1,315kg. It has a life span of 30 years.

The Tomahawk weapon system includes the Tomahawk missile, Theatre Mission Planning Centre (TMPC) / Afloat Planning System and the Tomahawk weapon control system (TWCS) for surface vessels or combat control system (CCS) for submarines.

Guidance and control

The Tomahawk Block IV uses GPS navigation and a satellite data-link to continue through a pre-set course. The missile can be reprogrammed in-flight to a new target.

The two-way satellite communications are used to perform post-launch mission changes throughout the flight. The on-board camera provides imagery of the target to the commanders before the strike.

The guidance system is assisted by Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM). The Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) system or GPS provide terminal guidance.

The Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS) integrated within the ship’s systems computes the path to engage targets. The system enables the planning of new missions on board the launch vessel. TTWCS is also used to communicate with multiple missiles for reassigning the targets and redirecting the missiles in flight.

The Block IV Tomahawk missile is outfitted with advanced electronic support measure (ESM) seeker in Block IV Tomahawk missile. Its joint multi-effects warhead enables the commander to control the blast.

The Tomahawk Block IV missile is powered by a Williams International F415 cruise turbo-fan engine and ARC MK 135 rocket motor. The propulsion provides a subsonic speed of 880km/h.

Tomahawk launch platforms

The missile can be launched from over 140 US Navy ships and submarines and Astute and Trafalgar class submarines of the Royal Navy. All cruisers, destroyers, guided missile and attack submarines in the US Navy are equipped with a Tomahawk weapons system.

US Navy launch platforms were modified to accommodate upgraded Tomahawk missile variants. Four Ohio class nuclear ballistic missile submarines were converted into cruise missile submarines for firing Tomahawk missiles. The Virginia class submarines and the Royal Navy Astute class submarines were also fitted with new vertical launch modules for Tomahawk missile.

Tomahawk orders and deliveries

The US signed a foreign military sales (FMS) agreement with the UK in 1995 to supply 65 Tomahawks for use with the Royal Navy nuclear submarines. The first batch of missiles was delivered in 1998.

The US Government approved an agreement in 2003 to deliver 65 Tomahawk Block IV missiles for the UK. In August 2004, the US Navy placed a $1.6bn multi-year procurement contract with Raytheon for 2,200 Tomahawk Block IV missiles.

Raytheon was awarded a $346m production contract for 473 Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles in March 2006. The contract includes 65 submarine torpedo tube-launched missiles for the Royal Navy. The Block IV entered service with the Royal Navy in March 2008.

Raytheon was awarded a $207m-worth firm-fixed-price contract in March 2009 for 207 Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round (AUR) missiles.

The 2,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in February 2010.

The US Navy placed a $338m contract with Raytheon in June 2012 for the delivery of 361 Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missiles. Another contract worth $254.6m was awarded for Tomahawk Block IV in the same year.

Raytheon delivered the 3,000th Tomahawk Block IV to the US Navy in January 2014 as part of the ninth Block IV production contract.

The US Navy awarded a $251m contract to Raytheon for the production and delivery of Tomahawk Block IV missiles for both the US Navy and Royal Navy in September 2014.

A $25.9m contract for Tomahawk missile composite capsule launching systems (C/CLS) was awarded in December 2014. The C/CLS is integrated with the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarines and nuclear-powered guided-missile submarines, allowing the missile to be launched from submarines.

Tomahawk Block IV missile demonstrated its moving target capability in tests conducted in February 2015.

Raytheon received a $122m contract from the US Navy in March 2015 for the production of 114 Tomahawk Block IV all-up round missiles. Raytheon conducted an active seeker test flight for the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile in January 2016.

The 4,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in August 2017. The US Navy warships and submarines launched 66 GPS-enabled Tomahawk missiles at Syrian chemical weapon facilities in 2018.

Raytheon planned to undertake recertification and modernisation programmes for Tomahawk Block IV missile in 2019 to add maritime strike capability and multiple-effects warhead upgrades to the missiles.

Raytheon received a $349m contract for phase two of the Maritime Strike Tomahawk Rapid Deployment Capability to improve the Tomahawk cruise missile system in August 2019. Work will be executed in various locations across the US until February 2023.

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Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation

April 27, 2017

Fact Sheet: Ballistic vs. Cruise Missiles

Ballistic missiles are powered initially by a rocket or series of rockets in stages, but then follow an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target. Ballistic missiles can carry either nuclear or conventional warheads.

There are four general classifications of ballistic missiles based on their range, or the maximum distance the missile can travel:

• Short-range: less than 1,000 kilometers (approximately 620 miles), also known as “tactical” ballistic missiles.
• Medium-range: between 1,000 and 3,000 kilometers (approximately 620-1,860 miles), also known as “theater” ballistic missiles.
• Intermediate-range: between 3,000 and 5,500 kilometers (approximately 1,860-3,410 miles)
• Long-range: more than 5,500 kilometers (approximately 3,410 miles), also known as intercontinental or strategic ballistic missiles. Intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) can fly much further than the minimum range; for example, Russia could hit Chicago with an ICBM launched from the Krasnoyarsk ICBM base, which is located 9,156 kilometers (5,689 miles) away.

Ballistic missiles have three stages of flight:

Boost Phase begins at launch and lasts until the rocket engine(s) stops firing and the missile begins unpowered flight. Depending on the missile, boost phase can last three to five minutes. Most of this phase takes place in the atmosphere.

Midcourse Phase begins after the rocket(s) stops firing. The missile continues to ascend toward the highest point in its trajectory, and then begins to descend toward Earth. This is the longest phase of a missile’s flight; for ICBMs, it can last around 20 minutes. During midcourse phase, ICBMs can travel around 24,000 kilometers per hour (15,000 miles per hour).

Terminal Phase begins when the detached warhead(s) reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and ends upon impact or detonation. During this phase, which can last for less than a minute, strategic warheads can be traveling at speeds greater than 3,200 kilometers per hour (1,988 miles per hour).

Cruise missiles remain within the atmosphere for the duration of their flight and can fly as low as a few meters off the ground. Flying low to the surface of the earth expends more fuel but makes a cruise missile very difficult to detect.

Cruise missiles are self-guided and use multiple methods to accurately deliver their payload, including terrain mapping, global positioning systems (GPS) and inertial guidance, which uses motion sensors and gyroscopes to keep the missile on a pre-programmed flight path. As advanced cruise missiles approach their target, remote operators can use a camera in the nose of the missile to see what the missile sees. This gives them the option to manually guide the missile to its target or to abort the strike.

To learn about missile defense, check out our fact sheet .

Sources: Department of Defense, Missile Defense Agency, Federation of American Scientists .

820 1st Street NE, Suite LL-180 Washington, D.C. 20002 Phone: 202.546.0795

• Missiles of the World

9M729 (SSC-8)

The SSC-8 is a Russian ground-launched cruise missile (GLCM) with a range of 2,500 km. Its development prompted the 2019 U.S. withdrawal from the 1987 INF Treaty.

9M729 (SSC-8) at a Glance

SSC-8 Development

The missile is likely a ground-launched variant of the Russian Navy’s 3M-54 Kalibr missile (NATO: SS-N-27 Sizzler) . It has also been reported as a modified version of the Iskander-K or Kh-101 . It was originally designated in U.S. reports as the SSC-X-8, but officials removed the “X” when it transitioned from an experimental to operational weapon. 5 The missile was developed by Russian company NPO Novator.

SSC-8 Specifications

Ssc-8 service history, inf compliance.

In January 2014, the United States informed its NATO allies of a Russian missile that violated the range and launcher regulations of the Intermediate Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty. In a July 2014 official compliance report, the United States found the “Russian Federation in violation of its obligations under the INF treaty not to possess, produce, or flight-test a GLCM with a range capability of 500 to 5,500 km, or to possess or produce launchers of such missiles.” 11 While the missile was not named at the time, analysts today acknowledge the SSC-8 is the non-compliant missile referred to in the report.

In November 2016, the United States called for a special verification commission to deal with Russia’s alleged INF violation. Parties involved in this discussion included the United States, Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine. Russia maintained the SSC-8 did not violate INF principles, and the commission did not advance.

• Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats on Russia’s Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Violation,” November 30, 2018, https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/speeches-interviews/item/1923-director-of-national-intelligence-daniel-coats-on-russia-s-inf-treaty-violation; Pavel Podvig, “Is it too late to have an informed discussion about the INF treaty?” Russian Strategic Forces (blog), December 2, 2015, http://russianforces.org/blog/2017/07/is_it_too_late_to_have_an_info.shtml.
• BBC, “Russia ‘violated 1987 nuclear missile treaty’, says US,” July 29, 2014, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-28538387.
• Bill Gertz, “Russia Again Flight Tests Illegal INF Cruise Missile,” The Washington Free Beacon, September 28, 2015, https://freebeacon.com/national-security/russia-again-flight-tests-illegal-inf-cruise-missile/.
• Office of the Director of National Intelligence, “Director of National Intelligence Daniel Coats on Russia’s Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty Violation”.
• Michael R. Gordon, “Russia Deploys Missile, Violating Treaty and Challenging Trump,” New York Times , February 14, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/14/world/europe/russia-cruise-missile-arms-control-treaty.html?_r=0.
• U.S. Air Force National Air and Space Intelligence Center (NASIC), “U.S. Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat,” June 26, 2017, 37, https://fas.org/wp-content/uploads/media/NASIC2017.pdf. Note : This was before a “corrected” NASIC report removed the ground version. See https://fas.org/blogs/security/2017/08/nasic-2017-corrected/.
• Jeffrey Lewis, “Russian Cruise Missiles Revisited,” Arms Control Wonk (Blog) , October 27, 2015, https://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/207816/russian-cruise-missiles-revisited/. Note : The original GosNIPP announcement has been removed from its website.
• Gordon, NYT.
• Semen Kabakev, “Russia Deploys Banned Missile and Brags about It,” Atlantic Council, May 10, 2017, http://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/russia-deploys-banned-missile-and-brags-about-it; Podvig, “Is it too late to have an informed discussion about the INF treaty?”
• Michael R. Gordon, “As One Arms Treaty Falls Apart, Others Look Shakier,” Wall Street Journal , December 7, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/looming-demise-of-a-nuclear-treaty-threatens-to-upend-others-1544187603.
• U.S. State Department, Adherence to and Compliance with Arms Control, Nonproliferation, and Disarmament Agreements and Commitments Report, July 2014, https://www.state.gov/documents/organization/230108.pdf.
• Julian E. Barnes, Paul Sonne and Brett Forrest, “Pentagon Moves to Develop Banned Intermediate Missile,” Wall Street Journal , November 15, 2017, https://www.wsj.com/articles/pentagon-moves-to-develop-banned-intermediate-missile-1510862789.
• U.S. Department of Defense, “U.S. Nuclear Posture Review,” (Washington, DC: DoD, 2018), 10, https://media.defense.gov/2018/Feb/02/2001872886/-1/-1/1/2018-NUCLEAR-POSTURE-REVIEW-FINAL-REPORT.PDF.
• Ann M. Simmons, Thomas Grove, and Courtney McBride, “Russian Officials Slam Trump’s Plans to Exit Nuclear Treaty,” Wall Street Journal , October 21, 2018, https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-officials-slam-trumps-plans-to-exit-inf-nuclear-treaty-1540118231.
• Vladimir Isachenkov, “Russia presents info on missile US says violates pact,” <em>Associated Press</em>, January 23, 2019, https://apnews.com/d2d41dccab534618a982966c1001110b.

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How Cruise Missiles Work

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Tomahawk cruise missiles frequently appear in the news because they are the U.S. weapon of choice for a variety of quick-strike operations. With all of the missiles in the U.S. arsenal, have you ever wondered why cruise missiles seem to come up so often?

In this edition of HowStuffWorks , we will look at cruise missiles so that you can understand what they are, how they operate and why they are ideal for certain scenarios.

A cruise missile is basically a small, pilotless airplane . Cruise missiles have an 8.5-foot (2.61-meter) wingspan, are powered by turbofan engines and can fly 500 to 1,000 miles (805 to 1,610 km) depending on the configuration.

A cruise missile's job in life is to deliver a 1,000-pound (450-kg) high-explosive bomb to a precise location -- the target. The missile is destroyed when the bomb explodes. Since cruise missiles cost between $500,000 and $1,000,000 each, it's a fairly expensive way to deliver a 1,000-pound package.

Cruise missiles come in a number of variations (see the links at the end of the article for more information) and can be launched from submarines , destroyers or aircraft.

When you hear about hundreds of cruise missiles being fired at targets, they are almost always Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from destroyers.

Cruise missiles are 20 feet (6.25 meters) long and 21 inches (0.52 meters) in diameter. At launch, they include a 550-pound (250-kg) solid rocket booster and weigh 3,200 pounds (1450 kg).

The booster falls away once it has burned its fuel. The wings, tail fins and air inlet unfold, and the turbofan engine takes over.

This engine weighs just 145 pounds (65 kg) and produces 600 pounds of thrust burning RJ4 fuel. The fuel load is 800 to 1,000 pounds (about 450 kg) of fuel at launch, or approximately 150 gallons (600 liters). The missile has a cruising speed of 550 mph (880 kph).

The hallmark of a cruise missile is its incredible accuracy. A common statement made about the cruise missile is, "It can fly 1,000 miles and hit a target the size of a single-car garage." Cruise missiles are also very effective at evading detection by the enemy because they fly very low to the ground (out of the view of most radar systems ).

Four different systems help guide a cruise missile to its target:

• IGS - Inertial Guidance System
• Tercom - Terrain Contour Matching
• GPS - Global Positioning System
• DSMAC - Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation

The IGS is a standard acceleration-based system that can roughly keep track of where the missile is located based on the accelerations it detects in the missile's motion ( click here for a good introduction). Tercom uses an on-board 3-D database of the terrain the missile will be flying over. The Tercom system "sees" the terrain it is flying over using its radar system and matches this to the 3-D map stored in memory. The Tercom system is responsible for a cruise missile's ability to "hug the ground" during flight. The GPS system uses the military's network of GPS satellites and an onboard GPS receiver to detect its position with very high accuracy.

Once it is close to the target, the missile switches to a "terminal guidance system" to choose the point of impact. The point of impact could be pre-programmed by the GPS or Tercom system. The DSMAC system uses a camera and an image correlator to find the target, and is especially useful if the target is moving. A cruise missile can also be equipped with thermal imaging or illumination sensors (as used in smart bombs ).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do cruise missiles navigate to their target, what advancements have been made in cruise missile technology, lots more information, related articles.

• How Stinger Missiles Work
• How Sidewinder Missiles Work
• How Smart Bombs Work
• How MOAB Works
• How Patriot Missiles Work
• How Stealth Bombers Work
• How Apache Helicopters Work
• How F-15s Work
• How Airplanes Work
• How Gas Turbine Engines Work
• How Radar Works
• How GPS Receivers Work
• How Rocket Engines Work

More Great Links

• USAF Fact Sheet: AGM-86B/C Missiles
• U.S. navy Fact File: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• BBC News: NATO's firepower: The cruise missile
• Time.com: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• Analysis: Tomahawks, Submarines and the F-111

Launch systems

• Arleigh Burke Class (AEGIS) Guided Missile Destroyers, USA
• SSN Los Angles Class Attack Submarine, USA - U.S. subs that launch cruise missiles
• SSN Astute Class Attack Submarine, UK - Royal Navy subs that launch cruise missiles
• B-52H Stratofortress Long-Range Multi-Role Bomber, USA
• B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, USA

Miscellaneous

• Williams F107-WR-101 Turbofan Engine
• Digital Imagery Workstation Suite (DIWS) - generates the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) reference scenes

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

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'Cheap' Long-Range Cruise Missile Designs To Be Tested By Air Force

Four companies are now set to design, build, and flight test new low-cost cruise missile concepts for the U.S. Air Force within the next seven months. A core goal is also to demonstrate new technologies and techniques to enable the rapid scaling up of production. The U.S. military has a clear and now long-standing desire for cheap and highly producible stand-off munitions . Weapons like this will be particularly relevant in future high-end conflicts, such as one against China in the Pacific, where there could be a need to prosecute tens of thousands of targets with precision and do so in an economical manner.

The Pentagon's Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), in cooperation with the Air Force Life Cycle Management Center's Armament Directorate (AFLCMC/EB) announced today that Anduril Industries , Integrated Solutions for Systems, Inc. , Leidos subsidiary Dynetics , and Zone 5 Technologies had been picked to take part in the Enterprise Test Vehicle (ETV) project. DIU's main job is to help the U.S. military leverage new and improved commercial technologies. AFWERX , an Air Force technology incubator situated within the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), has also been involved in the ETV effort. DIU says U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM), Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), and U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (USINDOPACOM) are also participating as "collaborators and evaluators."

The ETV project will help "identify and prototype commercial and dual-use technology solutions for an enterprise test vehicle that demonstrates modularity for subsystem upgrade testing," according to a press release DIU put out today. "The technology will also serve as a foundation for affordable high-rate production."

"To enable future design improvements and rapid integration of subsystems, prototypes are utilizing an open systems architecture reference," the release adds. "Capable of deployment en masse through multiple launch methods, ETVs create an overwhelming dilemma for any defending adversary."

Specific details about the four competing designs are limited, but renderings from Integrated Solutions for Systems and Zone 5, seen earlier in this story, show relatively traditional stealthy-looking air-launched cruise missile concepts.

Zone 5's ETV submission is very reminiscent, at least externally, of Lockheed Martin's AGM-158 Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile family of cruise missiles. The company is separately involved in the development of another powered air-launched munition concept called Cargo Launch Expendable Air Vehicles with Extended Range (CLEAVER) for the Air Force. It's unclear what, if any, relationship the company's ETV design has to CLEAVER.

The rendering from Dynetics, seen below, shows a munition that looks very much like a powered derivative of the company's GBU-69/B precision-guided glide bomb . Also known as the Small Glide Munition (SGM), the GBU-69/B is in service with the U.S. special operations community now.

Anduril has so far declined to share an artist's conception of its design concept.

"Our first Weapons PEO Challenge has participants working with the Armament Directorate to design an enterprise test vehicle that will serve as the baseline architecture for future low-cost cruise missiles [sic] variants," Cayley Dymond, the AFWERX Challenge team lead, said about the project's immediate goals back in January. "The Directorate's objective is to design a weapon with a range of approximately 500 nautical miles, high subsonic speed, and a cost goal of $150,000 per unit in bulk orders."

For comparison, the unit price of the latest subvariants of the AGM-158B Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile-Extended Range (JASSM-ER) is around $1.2 and $1.5 million, according to official budget documents . The stealthy subsonic JASSM-ER is one of the Air Force's current go-to conventional air-launched cruise missiles and has a reported maximum range of around 600 miles.

Just last Friday, the Air Force signed its first contract for Joint Strike Missiles (JSM), which are air-launched cruise missiles that are smaller and shorter-ranged than the JASSM-ER. Air Force budget documents put the price tag of a single JSM at around $2.7 million. The JSM unit cost looks in part to be a product of the relatively small numbers of these weapons the Air Force is currently looking to buy, as well as production just starting to ramp up.

It's worth noting that we don't know the size and type of warhead the Air Force and DIU are looking at with regard to ETV. A lighter, smaller warhead could help keep costs down, as well as extend the range of the missile, but might also limit its effectiveness against certain target sets.

"Vendors are incorporating commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components wherever possible to mitigate supply chain bottlenecks and to keep costs low," DIU's press release today says about the ETV project. "Vendors will also leverage modern design for manufacturing approaches, ensuring air vehicles are not over-engineered for their intended mission, minimize [the] use of expensive materials, and enable on-call high-rate production that is not possible with more exquisite counterparts."

As already noted, the Air Force's interest in new lower-cost cruise missiles is not new and the requirement for such munitions continues to be ever more apparent. The service could expect to expend a significant number of stand-off munitions in the opening phases of any future large-scale conflict, particularly one against China across the broad expanses of the Western Pacific. Cheaper cruise missile designs that can also be more rapidly produced would give the Air Force a way to more economically bolster its stockpiles now and replenish them faster during a protracted fight.

The matter of munition expenditure rates and replenishing stockpiles in a timely manner has been thrust into the mainstream discourse recently thanks to U.S. military efforts to protect international shipping in and around the Red Sea from Houthi militants in Yemen and to defend Israel from Iranian missiles and drones . In April, Secretary of the Navy Carlos Del Toro said his service alone had fired nearly $1 billion worth of missiles in the course of those operations.

With all this in mind, it is not surprising that the Navy, as well as SOCOM, are also participating in the ETV project. Earlier this year, the Air Force and the Navy both put out new requirements for lower-cost and compact cruise missiles with shorter ranges and higher price points than ETV is aiming for. SOCOM also disclosed last month that it has begun testing a new miniature cruise missile design that could be added to the arsenal of its AC-130J Ghost Rider gunships .

The U.S. Marine Corps, which has not been explicitly named in relation to the ETV program, is also working on a new air-launched cruise missile for its AH-1Z Viper attack helicopters, and potentially other platforms. Details about the service's Long Range Attack Missile (LRAM), which is expected to have a maximum range of just over 170 miles, are limited, but it is known to be based on existing Air Force munition, as you can read more about here .

This recent flurry of activity in the smaller and/or cheaper cruise missile development space follows from a number of proceeding efforts, as well. Between 2017 and 2020, the Air Force conducted significant research and development into such a weapon, including flight testing , as part of an AFRL project called Gray Wolf .

More recently, the Air Force and the Navy have funded work on a project called the Rapidly Adaptable Affordable Cruise Missile (RAACM), which has been described in very similar terms to ETV.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oOOq0Kwuz24

In addition, while ETV's immediate focus is on low-cost cruise missile design concepts, there is an implied interest in potentially leveraging the designs for other roles. The line is already fine between cruise missiles and air-launched decoys carrying electronic warfare payloads, which can distract and deceive opponents, clearing the way for real strikes and otherwise helping to reduce the vulnerability of friendly forces.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vZyL-zEoMfM

In recent years, a number of private companies have also presented concepts for missile-like air-launched drones capable of performing various missions that are also being developed with a particular eye toward extreme production efficiency. Lockheed Martin's Skunk Work's Speed Racer drone is a prime example and the name is actually an acronym standing for Small Penetrating Expendable Decoy Radically Affordable Compact Extended Range. Skunk Works said in 2022 that it was moving toward flight testing the Speed Racer design, including in a crewed-uncrewed team with F-35 Joint Strike Fighters, as part of what the company called Project Carrera .

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uctPituSEYI

There is also General Atomics' Advanced Air-Launched Effects (A2LE) drone, a design that makes heavy use of additive manufacturing to help accelerate production and reduce costs, which The War Zone was first to report on .

New and improved manufacturing processes that may emerge from ETV could be valuable for other more tangible efforts, too. The Air Force has made clear that it sees advanced production processes as being essential to meeting its so-called "speed-to-ramp" acquisition goals for the Collaborative Combat Aircraft (CCA) drone program , as you can learn more about here .

As it stands now, the ETV project's aim is that "initial flight demonstrations will occur within seven months from the agreement award dates, after which one or multiple of the most promising prototypes will continue development toward a production variant capable of rapidly scalable manufacture," according to DIU's press release today.

Questions remain about the feasibility of developing a cruise missile that meets the ETV project's cost and capability goals. The litany of preceding efforts that have not resulted in a practical fielded weapon system, at least so far, underscores the potential challenges. The Air Force clearly hopes that ETV will at least produce a pathway to the desired capability.

“The ETV presents an opportunity to leverage promising ideas from industry to create and refine affordable designs for test capabilities that can be produced on a relevant timeline,” Andrew Hunter, Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics, said in a statement accompanying DIU's release today.

"While the Armament Directorate remains committed to our highly-capable legacy products, we have become convinced that widening the aperture to include more non-traditional aerospace companies offers the best chance at accomplishing our cost-per-unit goals, project timeline, and production quantity goals," Cassie Johnson, the ETV Program Manager at AFLCMC/EB also said. "We eagerly anticipate bringing respectable capability to our warfighters."

If nothing else, if the ETV project holds to the currently stated schedule, the DIU and the Air Force will have started putting the four new cruise missile concepts through the paces by January of next year.

Author's Note : There is some conflicting information about whether the Enterprise Test Vehicle is being technically categorized more as a drone or a cruise missile. We have reached out to DIU and the Air Force for additional information and clarification. The line between drones, especially one-way-attack attack types, and cruise missiles has been increasingly blurred in recent years, so this is hardly surprising.

Contact the author: [email protected]

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What is a cruise missile?

Cruise missiles, although similar to ballistic missiles in some regards, provide an alternate means to deliver a lethal payload rapidly and accurately to a target. Cruise missiles differ from ballistic missiles in that they fly towards their target at lower altitudes, remaining within the Earth’s atmosphere throughout their trajectory. Cruise missiles are defined as “an unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or special payload on a target.” [1] Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned control-guided helicopters or aircraft can be included in this definition [2] , but will not be discussed on this page.

The cruise missile has its beginnings in World War I, when the U.S. Army developed the Kettering Bug, an unmanned aerial bomb designed to strike targets beyond the range of artillery and too dangerous for piloted aircraft. However, the Kettering Bug was never used in combat. [3] Instead, the modern cruise missile originates more from the V-1 Flying Bomb used by the Germany in the last months of World War II. [4]

Launch Platforms

Cruise missiles are capable of being launched from multiple ground, air, sea and submarine platforms. Both fighter and long-range bomber aircraft are capable of carrying and launching cruise missiles. [5] On the ground, cruise missiles are most commonly launched by road-mobile systems due to the inherent advantages of mobility, but they can also be launched from fixed platforms. [6]

Russian warships in the Caspian Sea launch Kalibr cruise missiles towards targets inside Syria.

At sea, various surface ships and submarines can launch cruise missiles. Submarines are capable of launching while surfaced or submerged using torpedo fixtures or vertical launch tubes. [7] In April 2010 Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat, a Russian company, began marketing a version of the Russian Kalibr cruise missile housed in and capable of being launched from a standard shipping container. [8] This would allow any vehicle capable of carrying a standard shipping container to become a discreet platform from which to launch cruise missiles. [9]

Propulsion and Flight

Cruise missiles utilize jet engines as their primary method of propulsion. Most cruise missiles are subsonic and use Turbofan and Turbojet engines. While less common, supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles utilize Ramjet and Scramjet engines. [10] Some also use rocket motor propulsion as a booster in the first phase of flight [11]  or to accelerate to supersonic speeds in the terminal phase. [12]

Cruise missiles can fly to their targets at varying altitudes as long as they remain within the atmosphere. The trajectory of most remains close to the Earth’s surface, sometimes skimming just meters above the ground. Their low flight path makes it much harder for most radar and sensor systems to detect the missile, unless the radar or sensor system is airborne and directed towards the ground. [13] Some cruise missiles will fly only at high altitudes and dive sharply down once they reach their target. Flying at high altitude can extend the range of the missile because it’s more fuel-efficient than flying at lower altitudes. However, this also makes the missile more susceptible to missile defense systems since today’s radars and sensors are typically positioned to detect and track high altitude threats. [14] Cruise missiles can also mix their flight trajectory between high and low altitude in order to get the benefits of both. In this instance, cruise missiles will typically fly at a high altitude early in their flight to help extend their range, but as they approach their target, or missile defenses, they will fly down to a lower sea skimming/terrain hugging altitude to help it evade detection and defenses. [15]

Flight test of Pakistan’s Ra’ad cruise missile.

Cruise missiles can use multiple guidance methods in order to accurately place their ordinance on the desired target and avoid missile defense systems. One of the first methods used by cruise missiles was inertial guidance, which is still used today and allows the missile to fly along a flight path programmed prior to launch. [16] Another guidance method is terrain contour matching (TERCOM), which compares a terrain map to the current terrain the missile is flying over to ensure the missile is flying on the correct path. [17] Some use GPS systems, which require connection to either GPS or GLONASS satellite system, but can help ensure the missile follows the correct flight path and strikes the final target using specific coordinates with a high degree of accuracy. [18]

Other guidance methods are primarily used in the terminal phase of flight to increase accuracy. One is a laser guided system which uses a sensor to detect its target painted by a laser, however this can be unreliable because dust and smoke can interfere with the laser or the missile may not always be able to see the laser or painted target. [19] Another terminal guidance method is TV guidance, in which an operator uses a camera in the nose of the missile to visually identify and manually guide the missile to the target in its final phase. This method also gives the operator the option to abort the strike in the final phase if an anomaly is detected. [20]  A radar seeker is also used in the nose of some missiles to identify and/or keep the missile on target in the terminal phase. These radar seekers use either passive radar, which detect radar emissions of their target, or active radar, which emit their own radar to detect their target. [21] Infrared (IR) guidance – directing the missile towards heat emitting objects, such as engines [22] – may also be used by cruise missiles in the terminal phase. [23] However, because of its simplicity, IR guidance cannot differentiate between friendly, adversarial, or extraneous IR signals in a crowded battlefield, and is usually used in conjunction with other guidance systems. [24] The last guidance system used by cruise missiles is Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC), which uses a camera in the missile to find the desired target and match it to a stored image using an image correlator. [25]

Cruise missiles are typically armed with conventional or nuclear warheads, but can also be equipped with chemical or biological warheads. [26] The warhead weight and yield can vary widely, depending on the specific cruise missile and its mission.

[1] “Cruise Missiles.” Federation of American Scientists. http://fas.org/nuke/intro/cm/

[3] “Kettering Bug.” UAVGLOBAL. http://www.uavglobal.com/kettering-bug/ ; “War Machines: Cruise Missile.” National Geographic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD8Kr0f1tEY

[4] Hickman, Kennedy. “World War II: V-1 Flying Bomb.” About Education. http://militaryhistory.about.com/od/artillerysiegeweapons/p/v1.htm

[5] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[8] Stott, Michael. “Deadly New Russian Weapon Hides in Shipping Container.” Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-weapon-idUSTRE63P2XB20100426

[9] Lewis, Jeffrey, Nikolai Sokov. “Sokov on Russian Cruise Missiles.” Arms Control Wonk. http://www.armscontrolwonk.com/archive/207801/sokov-on-russian-cruise-missiles/

[11] Brain, Marshall. “How Cruise Missiles Work.” How Stuff Works. http://science.howstuffworks.com/cruise-missile.htm

[12] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[22] Kopp, Carlo. “Heat-Seeking Missile Guidance.” Air Power Australia. http://ausairpower.net/TE-IR-Guidance.html

[23] N.R.P. “Explained: How Cruise Missiles Work!” Defencyclopedia. https://defencyclopedia.com/2014/08/01/explained-how-cruise-missiles-work/

[25] Brain, Marshall. “How Cruise Missiles Work.” How Stuff Works. http://science.howstuffworks.com/cruise-missile.htm

[26] “Ballistic and Cruise Missile Threat.” Federation of American Scientists.   http://fas.org/irp/threat/missile/naic/part02.htm ; Norris, Robert S., Hans M. Kristensen. “Nuclear Cruise Missiles.” Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. http://bos.sagepub.com/content/63/6/60.full

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The U.K. Has Given Ukraine the Storm Shadow: A Western Missile on a Soviet Warbird

Russian forces in Crimea better watch out.

Despite extensive military assistance to Ukraine, transfers of two types of military hardware have remained taboo for Ukraine’s allies: modern Western-designed jet fighters, and long range land-attack missiles.

It’s unclear whether Ukraine has received fully capable Storm Shadows, or a reduced range model so as to adhere to the MTCR arms control regime, which ordinarily discouraged export of missiles with a range exceeding 190 miles.

While not fast like Russia’s Kinzhal aerial ballistic missile , the five-meter-long Storm Shadow is noted for its high degree of stealth, AI-driven image-matching terminal guidance system, and bunker-busting two-stage warhead (as further detailed below). Because it’s entirely pre-programmed for its targets prior to takeoff, it should be easier to integrate onto Ukraine’s Soviet warplanes than other advanced Western guided weapons.

Western governments feared Ukraine might use long-range missiles for attacks on Russian soil deemed politically provocative, which could incite escalatory retaliation. That, along with limited inventory, has most notably kept the U.S. from donating 190-mile range ATACMS ballistic missiles that are ordinarily compatible with the HIMARS and M270 rocket artillery systems donated to Ukraine.

Wallace stated that the Storm Shadows were supplied with assurances from Ukraine that they would only be used for strikes on Russian-occupied parts of the country, such as logistical centers in Starobilsk and Melitopol.

But the real bullseye falls on Russia’s extensive military infrastructure on the Crimean Peninsula, including airbases and much of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet. Russia had leased bases in that area from Ukraine for two decades, only for Putin to invade the entire peninsula in 2014.

The politics of Donated Missiles

Given that the donation from the UK sounds like it was in limited quantity (“a number”), the UK’s Storm Shadow may effectively be more a political play than a military one, much like when the country donated Western-designed main battle tanks.

Though the latter quantity was relatively small— 14 Challenger 2 tanks —it may have helped end hesitation for much larger subsequent donations of Leopard 2 and M1 tanks from the U.S. and continental Europe. The UK has been less concerned by the ‘but how will Putin react?’ factor than France or Germany.

Fortunately for Ukraine, Storm Shadow donations are more likely to be scalable than the UK’s rare Challenger 2 tanks, as the missiles are also in France’s inventory—under the designation SCALP-EG—and Italy’s. Both are major donors to Ukraine. The French Navy also uses a longer-range ship-launched variant called the MdCn.

Western governments might see whether Middle Eastern Storm Shadow clients (Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE) are amenable to quietly selling back missiles in exchange for newly-built replacements later. Those sold to the Middle East are believed to be a downgraded variant with 180-mile range sometimes dubbed the Black Shaheen—still potentially useful for Ukraine’s purposes.

Origins of Storm Shadow

Not to be confused with the G.I. Joe villain of the same name, Storm Shadow/SCALP is a French-U.K. joint venture built by European missile-maker MBDA and based on the Apache runway-cratering missile. It and Germany’s KEPD-350 air-launched cruise missile are the most numerous European-built equivalents to the U.S.’s arsenal of Tomahawk land-attack missiles , which have much longer range and are primarily (but not exclusively) sea-launched.

Storm Shadow doesn’t use any input from the carrying aircraft before or after launch. Instead, it’s pre-programmed on the ground to follow waypoints to the target area autonomously using inertial and GPS navigation—usually skimming at just 100-130 feet above the ground to further reduce radar detectability. Supported by pop-out wings, it flies just below the speed of sound powered by small TRI 60-30 turbojet engine and boasts a low radar-cross section due to its non-reflective geometry.

Once near the target, the missile lunges upwards–tossing off its pointy nose cone and exposing the infrared sensor within—and uses its elevated vantage to scan the ground below, searching for anything that resembles preloaded satellite images of the target using an early AI-driven technology called DSMAC (Digital Scene Matching Area Correlator.)

If the missile can’t find the target, it can be assigned a crash point so as not to risk collateral damage. But on finding a match, it swoops down and, just before impact, discharges the pre-cursor charge of its nearly half-ton (992-pound) BROACH warhead.

The armor-penetrating precursor blasts a hole into the target’s surface, allowing the larger main charge to pass inside the targeted structure before detonating—making BROACH effective against hardened targets like underground storage facilities and bunkers.

And while a Storm Shadow can go further and has a much larger warhead than a GMRL rocket, it’s also 4-5 times more expensive, so Ukraine will receive a far smaller number. That means each shot will have to count, and there won’t be an indefinite resupply of missiles, making avoiding interception even more pertinent.

Storm Shadow was first used in combat during the 2003 invasion of Iraq by now-retired British Tornado jets. France’s SCALP-EG missiles followed in 2011, deployed by Mirage 2000Ds and carrier-based Rafale-M jets in the campaign to overthrow Qaddafi in Libya. In the mid-2010s, the UK and France also employed the missiles against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, and in strikes punishing the Syrian government for its use of chemical weapons.

Western Missiles on Soviet Warbirds

Storm Shadow/SCALP is designed to be lofted from aircraft, and has been integrated into Sweden’s JAS-39 Gripen fighter , France’s Mirage 2000 and newer Rafale fighters , and Tornado jets and newer Eurofighter Typhoons built by Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom.

But because Storm Shadows don’t require fire control instructions from the launching fighter, they should be comparatively easy to add onto the Ukrainian Air Force’s Soviet warplanes.

Ukraine has already managed to mount AGM-88 HARM anti-radar missiles on its MiG-29 jets , a modification likely enabled by the fact the HARM has a built-in seeker. Due to Storm Shadow’s considerable size and weight, it may seek to mount it on large-but-fast Su-24 Fencer bombers or Su-27 fighters.

Due to Storm Shadow’s considerable range, Ukrainian jets could release the missile from relatively safe airspace. That said, to delay/avoid detection by Russian ground-based radars and attack from an unpredictable angle, Ukraine may opt for launch from low altitude—even if that reduces the maximum range and requires getting closer. There may therefore still be some need to dodge patrolling Russian MiG-31 interceptors , and Su-35 fighters scanning from above and primed to launch very-long-range R-37M missile .

Theoretically, Ukraine could also cobble together means to ground-launch Storm Shadows, accepting a significantly reduced range.

Like most long-range cruise missiles, Storm Shadows are not cheap—probably costing around $1 million per shot. And most operators have inventories in the low-to-mid hundreds, not thousands, limiting how many they’re inclined to donate. Still, if the UK’s donations breaks the taboo on transferring long-range missiles to Ukraine, then multiple donors may help make up numbers—to an extent.

Long-range Strike Tactics

When, in the summer of 2022, Ukraine began using Western-supplied HIMAR systems to launch GMLR precision-guided rockets out to a range of 56 miles, it resulted in a succession of spectacularly destructive attacks on Russian HQs, airbases, and ammo depots.

Those spectacles declined in frequency after a few months, as the Russians learned their lesson and pushed vulnerable support structures back outside of HIMARS range—accepting a loss of efficiency for better survival odds. Russia also began employing GPS-jamming to throw off the aim of HIMARS and SDB glide bombs given to Ukraine.

In theory, then, Storm Shadow and similar weapons could give Ukrainian planners a second “happy period,” as Russian depots and HQs again fall into convenient precision-strike range—potentially devastating if timed to coincide with Ukraine’s anticipated 2023 counteroffensive.

And this time, those depots and command centers might have to relocate all the way to Russian soil to escape the Storm Shadow’s reach. That could especially threaten Russian forces in southern Ukraine, most distant from the Russian border.

But there are important differences to keep in mind. While Russian air defenses struggled to shoot down supersonic HIMARS rockets, Storm Shadow is a subsonic cruise missile—a class of weapon that Ukraine’s own air defense system has become efficient at shooting down.

Storm Shadow’s success—versus Russia’s technically superior air defenses—will depend in part on its stealth characteristics. Because the missile relies on image-matching instead of GPS for terminal guidance, it should at least be less degraded by Russian GPS jamming than HIMARS rockets.

Mena Adel, who writes on military aviation for Scramble magazine, told P opular Mechanics that tactics practiced by France and the UK using SCALP/Storm Shadow against Syria’s Soviet-built air defense systems offer a relevant model for Ukraine:

“The U.S., France and UK attacked with a sweeping attack by 4 different types of missiles, including [non-stealth] Tomahawk missiles which formed the largest part to disperse the Syrian air defense thereby reducing the chance of intercepting stealth missiles. All while monitored by Russian air defenses in Syria… It is certain that future attacks will be planned using different types of missile approach from different directions to deceive the Russian systems so that the desired targets are hit with great accuracy and a minimum interception rate. Stealthiness is not enough, success will depend on planning and deception.”

As Ukraine will not have nearly as many cruise missiles available, Adel suggested Ukraine might instead launch concerted attacks with drones and SDB glide bombs (both ground- and air-launched) supported by electronic warfare systems to confuse and overwhelm Russian air defenses.

Ukraine’s promise not to strike Russian soil with Western-supplied missiles could also inspire a false flag attack making it appear it has done so—a well-established tactic in Putin’s playbook . As Ukraine is sporadically attacking targets in Russia (mainly airbases, oil depots and electrical infrastructure) using agents and domestically-built drones and missiles, there could be grounds for confusion and misinformation.

Overall, Storm Shadow is a potent long-distance strike weapon Ukraine will have to employ judiciously for maximum effect—though even the likely modest number transferred to Ukraine will likely to cause anxiety to Russian logisticians, commanders, and air defense personnel.

Sébastien Roblin has written on the technical, historical, and political aspects of international security and conflict for publications including 19FortyFive, The National Interest, MSNBC, Forbes.com, Inside Unmanned Systems and War is Boring. He holds a Master’s degree from Georgetown University and served with the Peace Corps in China. You can follow his articles on Twitter . 

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Russian air defence units intercepted 20 Ukrainian drones on Monday in southern Russia's Kursk region bordering Ukraine, regional Governor Alexei Smironov said.

Large swaths of northern Israel were engulfed by wild fires set off by rockets launched from Lebanon by the militant group Hezbollah, with rescue teams battling on Monday to get them under control.

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What we know on Houthis' latest Ghadr anti-ship Iranian ballistic missile

Iran said on Wednesday that the Houthi rebels in Yemen have obtained the technology to produce the Islamic Republic's Ghadr ballistic missile, a development that could heighten the group’s capabilities to strike ships in the Red Sea amid new attacks this week. 

The semi-official Tasnim news agency reported that the Houthis have developed a missile known as Muhit that is capable of hitting naval targets. The Muhit is "patterned after" Iran's Ghadr missile, according to the report. 

The agency, which is affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, did not specify whether Iran provided the Houthis the technology for the missile, saying only that the group was "inspired" by Tehran. 

“Inspired by Iran, the Yemeni military forces have obtained the technology to manufacture anti-ship ballistic missiles,” reported Tasnim. 

The Ghadr is an intermediate-range ballistic missile developed by Iran. It has a range of 1,600 to 1,950 kilometers (995 to 1,210 miles) and was unveiled in 2007, according to the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Missile Defense Project. Tasnim described the Ghadr as Iran’s first homegrown naval ballistic missile.

Iran is a major supporter of the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Tehran has denied directly arming the group, but has been implicated in weapons transfers. The US military's Central Command said that it seized two Iranian weapons shipments bound for the Houthis in January.

Houthi attacks

The Houthis have targeted international ships in the Red Sea for years, but significantly escalated the attacks since the start of the Gaza war. The group claims the ships are connected to Israel, though many of the targeted vessels have no known affiliation with the country.

Houthi spokesperson Yahya Saree announced on Wednesday that the group recently targeted the Laax, Morea and Sealady ships with naval and ballistic missiles as well as drones in the Red Sea , according to the group’s Saba news outlet. The report did not specifically mention the Ghadr missile.

Reuters reported that the Marshall Islands-flagged, Greek-owned Laax was hit by five missiles fired from Yemen on Tuesday. There were no casualties and the ship continued on its course. Laax’s security company LSS-SAPU told the outlet that the owner has no connections to Israel or the United States.

Morea flies the flag of Malta and was bound for the Indian port of Paradeep. Sealady is likewise Maltese-flagged and was headed to Bangladesh’s Chittagong, according to the MarineTraffic tracking site.

Saraee also claimed the Houthis fired drones and missiles at the Alba and Maersk Hartford in the Arabian Sea, describing the ships as American. The US-flagged Maersk Hartford is bound for Jebel Ali near Dubai, while Alba flies the flag of the Bahamas and is en route to China’s Guangzhou, according to MarineTraffic.

Saraee added that the Houthis targeted the Minerva Antonia in the Mediterranean with winged missiles. The ship flies the Greek flag and arrived in the Suez Canal on Tuesday, having originated in Russia’s Novorossiysk, per MarineTraffic.

A large arsenal

The Houthis have a variety of weapons at their disposal, including both ballistic and cruise missiles as well as attack drones. In March, the Houthis hit Israeli territory with a cruise missile for the first time. 

The Pentagon said earlier this month that the Houthis have weapons that can reach the Mediterranean Sea .

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North Korea fires missile barrage toward its eastern waters days after failed satellite launch

The South Korean military on Tuesday released a video showing its surveillance of a North Korean rocket exploding in mid-air shortly after its launch. The footage was filmed by a military patrol ship deployed in the country’s northwestern island region, the South Korean Joint Chiefs of Staff said. The rocket launched by North Korea to deploy the country’s second spy satellite exploded after liftoff Monday, state media reported, in a setback for leader Kim Jong Un’s hopes to field satellites to monitor the U.S. and South Korea.

A news program broadcasts a file image of a missile launch by North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 30, 2024. North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

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Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters following North Korea’s missile launch, at his office in Tokyo Thursday, May 30, 2024. North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. (Kyodo News via AP)

People watch a news program broadcasting a file image of a missile launch by North Korea, at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 30, 2024. North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

A TV screen shows a file image of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a news program at the Seoul Railway Station in Seoul, South Korea, Thursday, May 30, 2024. North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals. (AP Photo/Ahn Young-joon)

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korea on Thursday fired a barrage of suspected ballistic missiles toward its eastern sea, according to South Korea’s military, days after its attempt to launch a military reconnaissance satellite ended in failure but still drew strong condemnation from its rivals.

South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said it detected the North firing around 10 projectiles that appeared to be short-range ballistic missiles from an area near its capital, Pyongyang. It said the suspected missiles flew around 350 kilometers (217 miles) before landing in waters off the North’s eastern coast. It said the South Korean military has increased surveillance and vigilance and is closely sharing information with the United States and Japan.

Japan’s coast guard issued a maritime safety advisory over the North Korean launches and urged ships to exercise caution if they find any fallen objects. Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters that the suspected missiles were believed to have landed in waters outside of Japan’s exclusive economic zone and there were no immediate reports of damages. He said Tokyo “strongly condemns” the launches, which are in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions against the North.

Tensions on the Korean Peninsula have increased in recent months as the pace of both North Korea’s weapons testing and South Korea’s combined military exercises with the United States and Japan have intensified in a cycle of tit-for-tat.

Thursday’s launches came after North Korea flew hundreds of trash-carrying balloons toward the South since Tuesday night in retaliation against South Korean activists flying anti-North Korean propaganda leaflets across the border. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un had warned of unspecified “overwhelming actions” against South Korea after it staged an aerial exercise involving 20 fighter jets near the inter-Korean border hours before North Korea attempted to launch its second military reconnaissance satellite.

The rocket exploded shortly after liftoff, but Kim has urged his military scientists to overcome the failure and continue developing space-based reconnaissance capabilities, which he described as crucial for monitoring U.S. and South Korean military activities and enhancing the threat of his nuclear-capable missiles. Also on Thursday, North Korea hit back at international condemnation of its failed satellite launch, which drew strong rebukes from the United Nations and other countries as it involves technologies used for developing intercontinental range ballistic missiles. The North had successfully launched its first military spy satellite in November, but Monday’s failure posed a possible setback to Kim’s plans to launch three more military spy satellites in 2024. “We will never tolerate any moves of the hostile forces to violate the inviolable sphere under the exercise of sovereignty nor step back from having access to the space reconnaissance capability which should be done surely no matter what others may say,” North Korean Vice Foreign Minister Kim Son Gyong said in a statement published on state media.

Kim Son Gyong’s statement came as response to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’ condemnation of Monday’s launch, which he called a violation of Security Council resolutions that prohibit the North from conducting any launches involving ballistic missile technology.

Thursday’s launches were the latest in a series of weapons tests by North Korea.

On May 17, South Korea’s military said that North Korea fired suspected short-range ballistic missiles off its east coast. North Korea later said it tested a tactical ballistic missile with a new autonomous navigation system.

The North this year tested various cruise missiles and artillery systems and flight-tested what it described as a solid-fuel intermediate range missile with hypersonic warhead capabilities. Experts say it is designed to reach remote U.S. targets in the Pacific, including the military hub of Guam.

AP journalist Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s Asia-Pacific coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/asia-pacific

Ukraine strikes deeper: France approves long-range missile use

U krainians obtained permission from France, which, unlike the Americans, allowed them to attack targets in the Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions using long-range weapons. Here’s what the Ukrainians can now use.

The French granted permission to use SCALP cruise missiles, which are the French equivalent of the Storm Shadow missiles, to attack targets in the Russian Kursk and Belgorod regions.

This is tragic news for the Russians, as Ukrainians have been using these missiles with great success to strike Russian strategic targets in Crimea and beyond.

SCALP / Storm Shadow missiles: Russians' long-range European nightmare

SCALP cruise missiles are the French equivalent of the Storm Shadow missiles. Produced by the MBDA corporation since the early 2000s, these missiles result from British-French cooperation dating back to the 1990s.

The outcome is a stealth technology cruise missile, launched from aircraft, with a range of about 310 miles, or about 186 miles for export customers due to Missile Technology Control Regime limitations. In the Ukrainians' case, the carriers are cleverly modified Su-24 aircraft.

Storm Shadow / SCALP missiles are equipped with a turbojet engine, allowing subsonic speeds (0.8-0.9 Ma). They weigh 2,866 lbs, of which about 992 lbs is the BROACH (Bomb Royal Ordnance Augmented Charge) warhead.

The BROACH warhead is multifunctional and consists of two parts. The first is a small shaped charge designed to breach the target or damage its structure. The second part is a penetrating warhead that detonates with a delay of up to 240 ms. This delay is set in the Multi-Application Fuze Initiation System (MAFIS) fuse before the missile is launched, based on the target's structure (for example, the estimated thickness of reinforced concrete). The warhead can operate in three modes:         

• Impact Detonation
• Airburst Detonation, scattering the area with fragments
• Delay Detonation

An advanced guidance system ensures the missile's hit's precision. It combines inertial and satellite navigation with a fourth-generation infrared (IIR) sensor that detects the target's thermal image. This system ensures pinpoint accuracy in the final phase of flight (the sensor compares the observed image with a preloaded target photograph) and also helps track the terrain.

Thanks to this, the missile's computer knows exactly where it is, even in the event of GPS signal jamming, which the Russians have mastered. This functionality has caused significant problems for some types of American weapons, such as the GLSDB.

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