A Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile is fired from a submerged Navy submarine in a test firing in October 2008.
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The Tomahawk cruise missile, built in Tucson, has been the U.S. Navy’s weapon of choice for targeted destruction since the first Gulf War in 1990.
In the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 320 Tomahawks were launched in the first wave of the U.S. military’s “shock and awe” campaign.
The Tomahawk notched its 2,000th “expenditure” by the U.S. Navy during the 2011 revolt against Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
The Navy defines the Tomahawk’s primary function as a “long-range subsonic cruise missile for striking high value or heavily defended land targets.”
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Launched from ships or submarines, it can hit targets up to 1,000 miles away.
The current version — the Tomahawk Block IV cruise missile — costs about $600,000 and is manufactured in Tucson by Raytheon Missile Systems.
Raytheon is the largest private employer in Southern Arizona. It reported revenue of $6.6 billion and 9,933 jobs in the 2014 Star 200 list of major employers.
The Tomahawk was originally developed in the 1970s by General Dynamics, whose missile unit was bought by Tucson-based Hughes Aircraft in 1992.
Hughes merged with Raytheon in 1997.
