Sen. Mc Cain: Raytheon’s Tomahawk important to avoid use of ground troops

 

Raytheon's operations in Tucson should stay busy as the U-S sends more sophisticated weapons into battle, instead of ground troops.

That's the message Arizona Senator John McCain brought to Raytheon workers Tuesday as he spoke at the Raytheon Center in Rita Ranch.

The Senator says weapons like the Tomahawk cruise missile, built in Tucson will stay a key part of the U.S. military and he sees plenty of potential for Raytheon in other sophisticated systems.
       
Raytheon is Tucson's largest private employer so keeping Raytheon, and its workers busy is important to the economy.  Senator John McCain told workers there he foresees plenty of demand for what Raytheon builds.

Raytheon says the Tomahawk Cruise missile has been used more than 2000 times in combat in places like Iraq and Libya.  Its ability to launch from ships and submarines, fly a thousand miles and hit with precision makes it a favorite for maximum impact, with minimal risk.
      
Senator John Mc Cain helped reverse the U.S. Navy's decision to stop Tomahawk production here.  He told Raytheon workers it made no sense to stop building Tomahawks until a replacement is ready.
       
The Senator's calling for more air power to help the Kurds fight Islamic extremists in Iraq with only enough US ground troops to make sure aircraft and missiles hit their targets.

He says, “We would just have to have some but not a massive injection of ground troops.  But we do need and we have got right now boots on the ground in the form of Special Forces and Forward Air Controllers to identify these targets and to help with the Iraqis as they fight against ISIS."

The Israeli made Iron Dome anti missile system has been protecting Israel's cities against Hamas rockets.
        
Now Raytheon will help make Iron Dome systems and market them internationally.
        
Mc Cain says he helped secure money to make that happen.

"It is my understanding and it's still my understanding that that 225 million additional Iron Dome missiles will be co-produced and obviously that co-production will be here. I intend to follow up on that to be sure that is specifically the agreement that we have with the Israelis."

Senator Mc Cain says he will fight efforts to ground the A-10.  He says it's still the best plane to protect US troops, and essential to keeping Davis-Monthan a strong part of Arizona's economy.

NAVSEA: North Dakota Attack Boat Investigation Complete

Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has concluded an investigation into questionable third party components of its latest Virginia-class attack boat — North Dakota (SSN-784) — clearing the way for the submarine to commission in late October, NAVSEA told USNI News on Thursday.

 

“To date, all necessary inboard and outboard components have been inspected and all required repairs have been completed,” read a statement provided to USNI News.

 

NAVSEA inspected 58 components — mostly in the bow and stern sections — of the $2.6 billion attack boat and conducted an unspecified number of repairs, according to the statement.

 

“These components included stern planes and rudder rams, retractable bow plane cylinders, hydraulic accumulators, high pressure air charging manifolds, torpedo tube interlocks and shaft/link assemblies, weapons shipping and handling mechanisms, and other miscellaneous parts,” NAVSEA statement.

“The submarine was certified for sea trials and is tracking towards the Aug. 31 contractual delivery date.”

 

NAVSEA said other Block III Virginias would also be inspected. Neither the Navy nor Virginia-class prime contractor — General Dynamics Electric Boat —would identify the vendor to USNI News.

 

Huntington Ingalls Industries (HII) — responsible for most construction of the bow and stern sections — referred comment on the program to NAVSEA and Electric Boat.

 

The commissioning delay and investigation are rare missteps in what is arguably the Navy’s best-run shipbuilding program in decades.

 

North Dakota is the first of the Block III boats. The revised design feature 40 percent of the bow retooled to accommodate a new water-backed Large Aperture Bow (LAB) sonar array and the addition of two Multiple All Up Round Canisters that can each hold six Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAM).

 

The redesign was led by Electric Boat and constructed by Newport News as part of the teaming agreement between the two yards for the Virginia-class construction.

 

Despite the delay, North Dakota will most likely still deliver ahead of its 66-month construction schedule.

 

The final Block II boat— USS Minnesota (SSN-783) — delivered 11 months early.

NAVSEA’s full Thursday statement to USNI News follows:

 

The commissioning of PCU NORTH DAKOTA (SSN 784) was postponed from May to address material issues with vendor-assembled and delivered components.

 

To date, all necessary inboard and outboard components have been inspected and all required repairs have been completed.

 

There were a total of 58 components investigated aboard PCU NORTH DAKOTA (SSN 784).
These components included stern planes and rudder rams, retractable bow plane cylinders, hydraulic accumulators, high pressure air charging manifolds, torpedo tube interlocks and shaft/link assemblies, weapons shipping and handling mechanisms, and other miscellaneous parts.

 

The submarine was certified for sea trials and is tracking towards the August 31 contractual delivery date. The commissioning is scheduled for October 25. All other Block III submarines are being inspected and any issues found will be adjudicated.

6,000 Tomahawks Later

The U.S. Navy has ordered another 200 Tomahawk cruise missiles for its ships and submarines. The navy continues to use Tomahawks in combat on a regular bases. Most of these uses are publicized, but some are not. Several hundred Tomahawks were used against Libya last year. The Tomahawk was introduced 29 years ago and over 6,000 have been manufactured so far. U.S. Navy has fired over 2,000 in combat and over 500 for training and testing. The U.S. Navy has over 3,000 Tomahawks on its warships or in storage.

The current Tomahawk, the RGM-109E Block 4 Surface Ship Vertical Launched Tomahawk Land Attack Missile weighs 1.2 tons, is six meters (18 feet) long, has a range of 1,600 kilometers, getting there at a speed of 600-900 kilometers an hour, flying at an altitude of 17-32 meters (50-100 feet), and propelled by a jet engine generating only 600 pounds of thrust. Accuracy is on a par with JDAM (10 meters/31 feet). The Block 4 Tomahawk can be reprogrammed in flight to hit another target and carries a vidcam to allow a missile to check on prospective targets.

The Block 4s were recently upgraded so that they can hit moving targets. This is mainly intended to turn the Tomahawk into an anti-ship missile, although it can also hit moving land targets. The Tomahawk has been a primary land attack weapon for surface ships and submarines since the 1990s. The Block 3 entered service in 1994, but the Block 4 was a big upgrade a decade later, adding GPS and the ability to go after a different target while the missile was in flight.

The United States is developing a successor to the Tomahawk cruise missile that will be heavier (2.2 tons), have a longer range (2,000 kilometers), and a larger (one ton) warhead. The new missile will be stealthier and use a combination of guidance and targeting systems (to improve the chances of success). Price will probably be the key factor in whether this new missile ever enters service. The new Cruise Missile XR (for Extended Range) will probably cost at least twice as much as the current Tomahawk.

The cruise missile, when it showed up in the 1980s, was one of the first UAVs, it just wasn't reusable. But UAVs that carry bombs and missiles and can be reused are going to provide competition for a new, $3 million, Cruise Missile XR.

Eyeballing Iran? US commissions 361 cruise missiles

US Navy to get 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, most of which are meant for Fifth Fleet destroyers based in Bahrain. Meanwhile, pressure to mount military strike against Tehran is permeating presidential campaign

The United States has commissioned 361 new Tomahawk cruise missiles, and some 238 of them are meant to find their way to the Fifth Fleet, which is based in Bahrain, Ynet learned on Sunday.

According to the SW Insider, the deal – inked on the backdrop of repeated deadlocks in the nuclear negotiations between the West and Iran – may suggest that the US is gearing for a possible military campaign against the Islamic Republic.

US defense contractor Raytheon won the deal, for a reported $331 million.

According to the report, the deal – which follows repeated statements by both Israel and the US that "all options are on the table," and in view of Iran's recent naval maneuvers and military exercises – is another sign that "all sides are getting ready for the possibility of military conflict."

The missiles commissioned, the report added, "Will be designed to launch from submarines and the remainder from Navy ships currently operating with the Fifth Fleet based in Bahrain east of Iran." 

 Similar missiles were used by the US against Muammar Gaddafi's regime in Libya.

 Additionally, the US Navy has commissioned 17,000 advanced submarine detection systems, for a reported $13 million.

'Time to act'

Meanwhile, Washington is still trying to devise diplomatic ways to stem Iran's pursuit of nuclear capabilities.

Dennis Ross, who served as a special advisor on Iran on the National Security Council, said that the only way to get Iran to suspend its nuclear activities is to make it realize that the threat of war is real. He further suggested "calling Iran's bluff" by offering Tehran civilian nuclear capabilities.

Former Secretary of State James Baker said that should nothing change and Iran does, within one year's time, reach nuclear capabilities, then the US should be the one to lead a strike against it, because it has the necessary force to end Tehran's nuclear program.

The pressure on US President Barack Obama to present a viable military option against Iran is growing, as 44 senators – Democrats and Republicans – demanded the he set clear preconditions for continuing the nuclear talks.

The pressure to mount a military strike is also permeating the presidential campaign: The Emergency Committee for Israel, a neo-conservative organization headed by Weekly Standard editor William Kristol, aired a special spot in Florida, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin – key states in the presidential elections – urging Obama to strike Iran.

"President Obama has spent four years talking – Iran has spent four year building a secret nuclear site," the video says. "Obama is still talking and Iran has enough fuel for five nuclear bombs. Talking isn’t working – it's time to act."

How the world has changed

As if further evidence was needed about how profoundly the world has changed, this week’s 68th anniversary of D-Day comes with confirmation, in chapter and verse, that Germany has built four nuclear-weapons-capable submarines for Israel. A fifth is under construction near the old U-boat works in the Baltic port of Kiel. A contract for a sixth was signed this spring. Several more are under consideration.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is winding up an eight-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. Earlier this week, Mr. Panetta visited a U.S. supply ship berthed in Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam. He was working on a deal that someday could see U.S. warships use Vietnamese harbors as they counterbalance China’s dominance in the region.

Germany and Israel working together. Vietnam looking to the United States for protection against Chinese influence. How things do change.

The German magazine Der Spiegel this week confirmed details of the long-reported German-Israeli submarine deal. Reporters interviewed officials of both countries and toured the submarine Tekumah in the Israeli port of Haifa.

There was no official confirmation that the Dolphin-class diesel-propelled boats carry nuclear warheads. Reporters were not allowed to visit weapons decks. But former German officials said there was never any doubt that the subs would be capable of launching small cruise missiles with nuclear warheads.

Today’s submarines can fire cruise missiles from torpedo tubes, the missiles then emerging from the sea to fly to their targets. Each German-made sub has standard 533-millimeter torpedo tubes, capable of firing the Israeli-made "Popeye" cruise missile. But in response to a special Israeli request, the magazine reported, German engineers designed four additional tubes large enough to accommodate U.S.-made Tomahawk missiles should the United States ever agree to sell them.

Even the Popeyes, with their 900-mile range, could rain havoc across Iran, particularly if an Israeli sub slipped into the Persian Gulf. In the Cold War argot of "mutually assured destruction," the subs provide Israel with a ‘second-strike" deterrent.

"In the end, it’s very simple," Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Der Spiegel. "Germany is helping to defend Israel’s security. The Germans can be proud of the fact that they have secured the existence of the State of Israel for many years to come."

In the South China Sea, things are a little more nuanced. China has asserted its maritime rights throughout 1.4 million square miles from the Straits of Taiwan south to the Malacca Straits and Singapore. This concerns its southeast Asian neighbors and opens an opportunity for the United States.

A third of the world’s shipping operates in the South China Sea; the United States is determined to exert a greater security presence there.

Panetta told a regional security conference in Singapore last weekend that the United States gradually would redeploy its defense forces around the globe so that 60 percent of them, instead of the current 50 percent, were in the Pacific basin. This is in keeping with President Barack Obama’s pledge last year to "pivot" toward the Pacific because of its increasing economic and trade importance.

China, of course, holds more than $1.2 trillion of U.S. debt. But the United States imported nearly $400 billion worth of Chinese goods last year. The two nations’ interests are far more aligned than they are opposed. History suggests it’s wise to remember that.

US Navy awards Raytheon $338 million for Tomahawk

The U.S. Navy awarded Raytheon Company  a $338 million contract for the Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missile. The contract, which was announced by the Department of Defense on June 7, includes replenishment of weapons used during Operation ODYSSEY DAWN and procurement for the government's fiscal year 2012.

"Tomahawk Block IV is important for U.S. national security because it enables commanders to precisely engage heavily-defended and high-value targets from extremely long distances," said Capt. Joseph Mauser, the U.S. Navy's Tomahawk program manager. "With more than 2,000 combat uses and 500 successful tests, Tomahawk has proven highly reliable and effective."

The contract calls for Raytheon to build and deliver the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missiles, and provide warranties, flight test and life-cycle support. Production is scheduled to begin this year.

"Tomahawk has a record of reliability, effectiveness and accuracy that no other tactical cruise missile in the world can come close to matching," said Harry Schulte, vice president of Raytheon Missile Systems' Air Warfare Systems. "This is made possible by more than 250 Raytheon employees building Tomahawk and supporting its depot, and by our suppliers across the country. They are critical to our success and the security of our country and our allies."

About the Tomahawk Block IV

With a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles (1,150 statute miles), the Tomahawk Block IV is a surface- and submarine-launched, precision-strike, stand-off weapon. Tomahawk is designed for long-range precision-strike missions against high-value and heavily defended targets, such as integrated air defense systems.

Tomahawk Block IV employs a two-way satellite datalink that enables a strike controller to flex the missile in flight to preprogrammed alternate targets or redirect it to a new target. This targeting flexibility includes the capability to loiter over the battlefield and await a more critical target.

More than 2,000 Tomahawks employed in combat.

Tomahawk is integrated on a variety of U.S. and U.K. surface and sub-surface platforms, including the Ohio-, Astute- and Trafalgar-class submarines.

Tomahawk Block IV has a range of more than 1,000 nautical miles (1,150 statute miles).