| Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TWCS)/Advanced |
| Tomahawk Weapons Control System (ATWCS) |
| Primary Purpose | Provides a capability to control surface launches |
| of the TOMAHAWK Land Attack Missile (TLAM). |
| Encompasses communication support, engagement |
| planning, missile initialization, and launch |
| control functions. |
| Sub-Functions | Provides the capability for the Battle Group |
| Commander to maintain common control system of |
| the TOMAHAWK weapon platform. The Commander can |
| arrange his TOMAHAWK platforms to fit the |
| organization, designating which ship will be an |
| active shooter or a non-participant. TWCS and |
| ATWCS also displays and tracks air, surface, and |
| subsurface contact reports from the weapon |
| platform's Force Over-the-Horizon Track |
| Coordinator (FOTC) node. The Battle Group's FOTC |
| will disseminate force-level track database |
| information and then, based on the threat, the |
| Launch Area Coordinator (LAC) will issue |
| engagement orders to those TOMAHAWK weapon |
| systems identified as participants or shooters. |
| Equipment Requirements | TWCS: |
| AN/SWG-3B Tomahawk Weapon Control System, |
| MK-41 VLS Launcher, |
| AN/WSN-5 or AN/WSN-7 Inertial Navigation System, |
| Officer-in-Tactical-Command Information Exchange |
| System (OTCIXS), |
| Tactical Data Information Exchange System A |
| (TADIXS A), |
| Global Command and Control System - Maritime |
| (GCCS-M), |
| Electronic TOMAHAWK Employment Planning Package |
| (ETEPP). |
| |
| ATWCS: |
| AN/SWG-4(V) Advanced Tomahawk Weapon Control |
| System, |
| MK-41 VLS Launcher, |
| AN/WSN-5 or AN/WSN-7 Inertial Navigation System, |
| Officer-in-Tactical-Command Information Exchange |
| System (OTCIXS), |
| Tactical Data Information Exchange System A |
| (TADIXS A), |
| Global Command and Control System - Maritime |
| (GCCS-M), |
| Generic Front-end Communications Processor |
| (GFCP). |
| Connectivity Requirements | TLAMs must be aligned with the WSN-5 or WSN-7 |
| Inertial Navigation System for all missions. |
| Officer-in-Tactical-Command Information Exchange |
| System (OTCIXS), Tactical Data Information |
| Exchange System A (TADIXS A) and Extremely High |
| Frequency (EHF) communications circuits are |
| required for transmitting/receiving off-board |
| engagement orders. |
| Crypto Requirements | Manually entered current week and following week |
| crypto required for GPS missions. |
| Normal Locations | CG 47 (TICONDEROGA) Class Cruisers (CG 52 and |
| higher hull number), DD 963 (SPRUANCE) Class |
| Destroyers, DDG 51 (ARLEIGH BURKE) Class Destroyers, SSN 637 (STURGEON) and 688 (LOS ANGELES) Class Attack Submarines. |
Information Managed | Maintains a theater ocean surveillance picture |
which provides track avoidance information for |
TOMAHAWK weapons employment. Also maintains |
engagement planning information and world-wide |
master mission library data. |
Products Created | Copies of engagement displays, and geographic |
depiction of attack plan. OPNOTES & SITREPS. |
INDIGO report to TOMAHAWK Strike Coordinator |
(TSC). Consolidated launch report from Launch |
Area Coordinator (LAC). Also provides mission |
and missile inventory reports. |
Lead Service/Contractor | USN/Boeing and Raytheon (missile). NSWC DD, PHD |
NSWC, NUWC KP, Litton, Telos and Lockheed Martin |
(weapon control system). |
Current Fielding Status | Deployed and operational. Fleet installation of |
the Advanced TWCS (ATWCS) started in FY 98 and |
will continue thru FY 07. Software for surface |
ship and submarine ATWCS is built around the |
JMCISA Unified Build (UB) that executes on a UNIX |
operating system and X-windows and MOTIF |
utilities. The JMCIS UB provides processing for |
communications, track management and correlation, |
and mapping and charting. ATWCS provides |
surface ships and submarines with new or improved |
weapons control system capabilities, to include: |
track processing common with the JMCIS-based |
utilities; automated over water route planning |
via track avoidance and land fly-around; ability |
to put multiple primary and ready-spared missiles |
on a single engagement; ability to send |
preplanned missions (MDU Forward Pass) and |
missile inventory Tomahawk Asset Management (TAM) |
reports; improved automation of Strike |
Coordination Overlays; expansion to 131 |
engagements (through TRIAL status), including a |
maximum of 32 active engagements; automated |
Mission Data Update (MDU) accountability; and an |
embedded training (Scenario Generation and |
Reconstruction) capability. |
Known Problems | TLAMs require precise position updates from the |
WSN-5/WSN-7 gyro. If the shooting platform has a |
bad gyro, then the TLAM shot opportunity is |
degraded or lost. All TLAM platforms are |
equipped with two gyros and TWCS/ATWCS can |
interface with either one. High latency on |
communications circuits can cause delays in the |
coordination of a Theater-wide TOMAHAWK Strike |
package which involves numerous shooters. With |
the introduction of EHF communication circuits |
into the fleet, this is becoming less of a |
problem. |
DIICOE Compliance Rating | Not rated. |
Point of Contact | Mr. Bill Flinner, (301) 757-6199; office code PMA |
282W9; Email: flinnerww@navair.navy.mil. |
Updated by | Capt Michael A. Brooks, USMC, CCSC-01 |
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