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U.S. Navy Awards Tomahawk Block IV Missile Multi-Year Contract

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS040824-04
Release Date: 8/24/2004 11:14:00 AM

PATUXENT RIVER, Md. (NNS) -- The U.S. Navy announced that Raytheon Missile Systems Company, Tucson, Ariz., was awarded a $1.6 billion firm-fixed price contract to produce up to 2,200 Tomahawk block IV missiles for the U.S. Navy's surface ship and submarine strike warfare fleets.

The contract, which was announced Aug. 18, is a milestone that marks the end of a very successful engineering, manufacturing and development phase. The combined Navy/Raytheon team surpassed all expectations in bringing the next generation cruise missile from paper to production in five years. The Tomahawk block IV missile incorporates a revolutionary design that provides the warfighter with increased tactical flexibility, more agile responsiveness, improved reliability and a price tag that is less than half of the currently fielded block III missile.

The Tomahawk missile is ship- and submarine-launched, and was first employed operationally in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. Since then, the missile has been heralded for its accuracy and lethality in numerous operations.

The Tomahawk block IV variant incorporates several enhancements, including mission planning aboard the launch platform, in-flight retargeting, tactical loiter and battle damage assessment capability, and in-flight health and status reports. These capabilities increase warfighter effectiveness and responsiveness, while significantly reducing acquisition and life cycle costs.

Today's production contract award is the first Navy weapons multi-year contract ever awarded. The multi-year construct will produce measurable savings over a five-year period as compared to five individual annual procurements. Additionally, this award allows Raytheon to ramp up from its current low-rate initial production delivery rate to a full-rate production delivery rate of nominally 38 missiles per month.

The Tomahawk All-Up-Round Missile program is managed by Capt. Bob Novak (PMA-280) and is one of the Navy's Sea Strike weapons in the portfolio of the program executive officer, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation Program Executive Office (PEO(W)) co-located at the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) headquarters in Patuxent River, Md.

"This first weapons multi-year procurement is a tremendous example of our goal in providing cost-wise readiness solutions for the Navy and the warfighter," said Rear Adm. Tim Heely, PEO(W). "It brings me enormous pride to see the continued dedication of our Navy/Raytheon development team as we deliver the next generation of Tomahawk cruise missile with all its enhanced combat capability to the fleet."

Tomahawk is a registered trademark of the U.S. Navy.