FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                                                                         DATE: 11 August 1999

        The U.S. Navy’s surface force demonstrated its Tomahawk cruise missile capabilities over the past week with two highly successful land attack missions from sea to desert ranges.

        The first cruise missile was launched August 10 at 9:26 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time from USS MILIUS (DDG-69), an ARLEIGH BURKE-Class guided missile destroyer, underway off the coast of southern California.

        Seconds after launch from the ship’s vertical launching system, the Tomahawk missile transitioned to cruise flight. It flew a fully guided 630-mile test flight using Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) and Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) navigation to a target and recovery site on the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division land range at China Lake, California. The missile’s parachute recovery system was activated as planned. The missile was safely recovered and will be refurbished for future use. This was the first launch of a Tomahawk test missile by USS MILIUS.

        Today, at 9:04 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time, USS MILIUS launched a second Tomahawk. This missile also transitioned to cruise flight seconds after launch and flew a fully guided 550-mile test flight using Global Position System (GPS) and Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) navigation to a target and recovery site on the China Lake range. The Tomahawk’s parachute recovery system was activated as planned. The missile was recovered and it too will be refurbished for future use.

        These two tests demonstrated functionality of the Advanced Tomahawk Weapons Control System (ATWCS) Launch Control Group Replacement (LCGR), a new launch control system for surface ships.

        Tomahawk is the nation’s "weapon of choice" for critical, long range, precision strike missions against high value or heavily defended targets. Tomahawk missiles are deployed throughout the world’s oceans on various surface ships and submarines.

        While maintaining its deep strike capability, Tomahawk continues to evolve to meet the warfighters’ needs for a more flexible and "tactical" precision strike weapon. Future variants will incorporate new technologies providing new operational capabilities and new missions while significantly reducing acquisition and life cycle costs.

        As in all Tomahawk flight tests, air route safety was carefully planned in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). For safety purposes, the Tomahawk could have been guided by commands from safety chase aircraft.

        These missile launches by USS MILIUS were the 372^nd and 373^rd Tomahawk flight tests.
 
 

For further information contact:

Cathy Partusch, Public Affairs Officer, PEO (CU)
Voice: (301) 757-6316 Pager: (888) 534-6628
Email: cpartusch@cunet.peocu.js.mil

Sandy Schroeder, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, PEO (CU)
Voice: (301) 757-5289
Email: sschroeder@cunet.peocu.js.mil