File:Tomahawk cruise missile - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum - 2012-05-15 (7259408066).jpg

A Tomahawk cruise missile on display at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

The Tomahawk is a long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile. In 1971, General Dynamics began work on a medium- to long-range, low-altitude missile. Work by NASA in the 1960s using radar to measure altitude during flight and on closed-loop internal guidance systems had already led to the development of TERCOM -- Terrain Contour Matching. With TERCOM, a missile is told to determine its altitude every so often along its pre-programmed route. Combined with an internal inertial guidance system, the TERCOM can keep a cruise missile on track and on target within 30 to 45 feet.

Fly-off competitions between General Dynamics, Raytheon, and LTV occurred in 1975 and 1976. In 1977, the Carter administration ended competition to develop cruise missiles among the various branches of the U.S. armed services, and demanded a single platform. A series of development tests and fly-offs that year led to the choice of the General Dynamics missile. Because cruise missiles were the brainchild of the U.S. Navy, they were developed as naval weapons first. The first surface ship launched a Tomahawk cruise missile in 1980, followed by a submarine launch in 1983. The U.S. Air Force developed a ground-launched and air-launched version in 1983 as well.

The Tomahawk is not a rocket. It is powered by a Williams F107 turbofan small jet engine. When first launched, a a solid-fuel booster rocket gets it airborne. Only then do the wings deploy, the airscoop is exposed, and the turbofan engine ignite. Then the missile cruises.

Modern cruise missiles often use GPS guidance systems as well as TERCOME and inertial guidance systems. very recently, satellite imagery in very small, very smart on-board computers allow Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) to heighten accuracy.

Tomahawks generally carry a 1,000 pound bomb. However, they can also carry cluster munitions. These are generally 166 sub-munitions contained in 24 canisters (22 canisters of seven each, and two canisters of six each). The canisters can be ejected two at a time, one per side. Up to five targets can be attacked by cluster munitions, although generally just a single target is attacked.