Here's video of the US Navy testing a 'game-changing' new missile

[Onkel Neal]

http://static4.businessinsider.com/image/54db80a76bb3f75b4380249b-853-465/screen%20shot%202015-02-11%20at%2011.16.40%20am.png

Laser, particle beams, and now this!
The US Navy has successfully altered a Raytheon Tomahawk land attack missile (TLAM) to be able to hit a moving target at sea, USNI News reports.

In a Jan. 27 test off of San Niolas Island, California, the Navy launched a TLAM which was guided into a moving maritime target through directions given by a Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet flying overhead. TLAMs are capable of changing their direction mid-course.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/us-navy-tested-a-game-changing-missile-2015-2#ixzz3RU1QM8pU

[Onkel Neal]

Haha @2:47 PIGEONS! :har:

[u crank]

No pigeons were harmed while making this video.

Scared witless but not harmed.:O:

[ikalugin]

How is it game changing?

[Schroeder]

How is it game changing?
Good question. The only thing I can think of is that far away ships can now deploy their firepower over greater distances. But in the age of Data Link I thought that was already common practice.:hmm2:

[Raptor1]

Especially considering they already had a Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile back in the '80s...

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

How is it game changing?Propably in sense, that now U.S. Navy ships will be able to shoot back. Existing Harpoon missile has relatively short range by modern standards especially when compared to Russian and Chinese missiles. Also newest Arleigh Burke-class destroyers do not even carry Harpoon. Their only truly offensive missile (beyond Standard SAM in surface mode) is Tomahawk which (as far as I know) in its current configuration isn't very suitable for anti-ship use.

[nikimcbee]

Neal, where did you get your shipping container from again? It wasn't a discount one, right?:hmmm:

[Onkel Neal]

Now that you mention it, there are a big hole in the side and a bunch of pigeon feathers.

How is it game changing?
Because, man, it changes the game. (https://medium.com/war-is-boring/u-s-marines-can-now-call-in-tomahawk-cruise-missiles-for-close-air-support-2a8aa4a64428) That makes it a game-changer. :shucks:

The U.S. military received its first Tomahawk cruise missile in 1983. And now 32 years later, American troops are still teaching the far-flying smart munition new tricks.

In a test on Jan. 29, a team of U.S. Marines called in an upgraded Tomahawk, called a “Block IV,” to quickly strike a nearby target—just like the Marines routinely do with their artillery, Harrier attack jets and Cobra helicopter gunships.

This is not what the Tomahawk normally does. By applying new software and procedures, the Marines have transformed the super-accurate missile with its 1,000-pound warhead into a close-support weapon—one they can dial up to blast the enemy during, say, fast-moving street-to-street fighting on some urban battlefield.

Meanwhile, the Navy is teaching the land-attack Tomahawk to also be an anti-ship missile.

This is a big, big deal. The U.S. military is getting powerful new weapons … without actually buying much new hardware.

[ikalugin]

So now they would use a 500k munitions to kill individual suspects rather than 100k ones. It is the game changer I guess.

[mapuc]

OK, maybe it's a game-changing when it comes to TLAM, but what's the different from the older TASM and the newer LRASM.

Markus

[ETR3(SS)]

I believe I can answer the game changing question. The BGM-109 was designed to hit static targets on land, everybody knows that. With Harpoon being discontinued a replacement was needed quite obviously. Enter this latest Tomahawk. The weapon in the video is being guided onto the target by the F/A-18 in the video, thus allowing it to hit a MOVING target at sea.

[TorpX]

I guess I'm dense here, but I don't see it as impressive, when it needs a nearby aircraft to guide it in.

[ETR3(SS)]

I'm assuming the aircraft is close by as this is just 1 phase of testing for the weapon. Test to see if the concept is possible first, then proceed to more stringent tests.

[Onkel Neal]

OK, maybe it's a game-changing when it comes to TLAM, but what's the different from the older TASM and the newer LRASM.

Markus

Read the article, it explains that.

I'm assuming the aircraft is close by as this is just 1 phase of testing for the weapon. Test to see if the concept is possible first, then proceed to more stringent tests.

Yes, next step: they will be satellite guided.

[Herr-Berbunch]

It was a near near-miss, a hit but only just.

[Onkel Neal]

Near miss? Depends on what the target was. What do you think they were aiming at? The ship? :ping: