The U.S. Navy announced that it has begun preparations to buy the first production lot of the penetrating warhead for the Tomahawk Block Vb cruise missile…
With this system, the missile will be better able to strike bunkers, hardened facilities, and underground structures.
No contract has been signed yet, and neither the planned number of warheads nor the estimated cost of the order has been disclosed.
Designed to combine the Tomahawk’s blast and fragmentation effects with the ability to penetrate hardened targets, the Joint Multiple Effects Warhead System (JMEWS) is expected to let the missile breach a structure’s outer protection before the main charge detonates.
That capability would widen the Tomahawk’s target set to include protected command centers, depots, missile facilities, and other concrete or earth-sheltered structures.
Tomahawk Block V includes several navigation and communications upgrades, and the missile family is split into two configurations for different missions.
Maritime Strike Tomahawk Block Va is developed for use against ships, while Block Vb carries the JMEWS warhead…