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However, it only saw its combat debut on 7 October 2015, in Syria as a part of the Russian military campaign in Syria. The missile has been used 14 more times in combat operations in Syria since its debut. A hypersonic cruise missile travels at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). The study did not, however, “consider infrared sensors or new types of weapons such as lasers or other directed-energy weapons because those systems will probably have ranges that are too short for wide-area CMD,” CBO caveats. An ICBM with an average of 3,600kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.47km.
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Finding this “sweet spot” among competing military requirements, production capacity, cost, and operational considerations is key to a successful outcome. The cost of launching a cruise missile can vary significantly depending on the type of missile, the distance it must travel, and the number of missiles being launched. For example, the US Navy estimates that it costs around $1 million to launch a single Tomahawk Block IV ALCM, while the cost of launching a single AGM-158 JASSM-ER LACM is estimated to be around $2.5 million. The cost of launching a single Kh-101 air-launched cruise missile is estimated to be around $4 million.
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Despite being powered by rockets and a jet engine, the Tomahawk missile itself isn't that fast, at least comparatively. An F-16 fighter jet tops out at 1,500 miles per hour and the much larger Minuteman III ballistic missile can reach speeds of up to 15,000 miles per hour. Supposedly, the Tomahawk's relatively low speed helps it avoid radar systems more efficiently. Additionally, it flies at an altitude of between 100 and 300 feet, much lower than conventional fighter aircraft. With numerous missile defense engagements in the Red Sea, a common framing for news reporting has been the relative cost of the interceptor and the missile or drone it intercepts.
Missile Payload Destruction Cost Comparisons
All cruisers, destroyers, guided missile and attack submarines in the US Navy are equipped with a Tomahawk weapons system. The U.S. Navy has asked industry about the possibility of making a long-range air launched cruise missile up to 10 times cheaper than current missiles. The exact guidance system and navigational dynamics of the Tomahawk missile are classified. However, it is known that it can use GPS or inertial guidance systems to hit the target.
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In recent years, concerns have arisen that another type of weapon—land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs)—may also pose a threat to the U.S. homeland. Unfortunately, the systems that the U.S. military has deployed to protect the United States from ballistic missile warheads that fly high above the atmosphere are ill-suited to counter LACMs, which fly close to Earth’s surface. While ballistic missiles were the preferred weapons for land targets, heavy nuclear and conventional weapon tipped cruise missiles were seen by the USSR as a primary weapon to destroy United States naval carrier battle groups.
Cost and Value in Air and Missile Defense Intercepts
The United States, Russia, North Korea, India, Iran, South Korea, Israel, France, China and Pakistan have developed several long-range subsonic cruise missiles. Earlier versions of these missiles used inertial navigation; later versions use much more accurate TERCOM and DSMAC systems. Cruise missiles can be a valuable tool for militaries, providing precision strikes with minimal collateral damage. However, the cost of acquiring and launching cruise missiles can be significant, ranging from a few hundred thousand dollars for smaller models to over $10 million for larger, more advanced models. Additionally, the financial impact of cruise missile technology should be considered, as it carries both potential benefits and risks.
[vii][viii] An airburst missile with a spread radius of 1.4km would cost $872.4 billion to decontaminate. The Navy plans to cycle all of its Block IV cruise missiles through a mid-life “recertification,” during which Raytheon will add a new guidance system. No fewer than 89 Navy destroyers and cruisers plus 54 attack submarines and four guided-missile submarines are compatible with the 20-feet-long Tomahawk, the first model of which entered service in 1983. It doesn't include the specifically anti-ship missiles whose list is separate. That’s $2 billion more than the service’s estimate, with the major difference stemming from the development and procurement phases for as many as 1,020 of the air-launched missiles, known as the Long-Range Standoff Weapon. The Pentagon’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office estimated $16.2 billion for those parts of the program, compared with $14.2 billion projected by the Air Force, according to figures obtained by Bloomberg News.
Houthi Rebels Could Be Running Low on Weapons: US Commander
Cost and benefit: Israel’s very expensive defence against aerial threats - The Indian Express
Cost and benefit: Israel’s very expensive defence against aerial threats.
Posted: Thu, 18 Apr 2024 14:19:13 GMT [source]
If a 100kt tactical nuclear missile were to make a surface detonation in the middle of a city, all buildings, subterranean transit, and people would be destroyed in an approximate 2km range in all directions. This cost increases if power grids and water treatment/pump stations are within this 2km range. Medical costs would be severe for people within the thermal radiation range. Countries have been investigating the use for these low yield tactical nuclear missiles for precision strikes as alternative weapons in their arsenals. A nuclear missile with a 4km initial blast radius would require a yield of 18Mt, 3Mt larger than the largest US bomb tested, the “Castle Bravo”.
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Raytheon planned to undertake recertification and modernisation programmes for Tomahawk Block IV missile in 2019 to add maritime strike capability and multiple-effects warhead upgrades to the missiles. The US Navy placed a $338m contract with Raytheon in June 2012 for the delivery of 361 Tomahawk Block IV tactical cruise missiles. Another contract worth $254.6m was awarded for Tomahawk Block IV in the same year. The desired range and price requirements are accompanied by NAVAIR’s ask for industry respondents who can produce “a minimum of 500” MACE missiles per year. This is likely well short of the quantities an effective long range air-launched cruise would generate in terms of demand.
The SLCM-N is a cruise missile launched from surface ships or attack submarines (SSNs)—not from ballistic missile submarines. The United States deployed these missiles on SSNs during the Cold War, but they were removed from service (along with most US tactical nuclear weapons) and eventually retired by 2010. There are several different types of cruise missiles available on the market.
In that engagement, the Gravely used its Phalanx Close-In Weapon System (CIWS) to engage an incoming anti-ship cruise missile. The 20-millimeter (mm) rounds fired by the CIWS were likely cheaper than the anti-ship cruise missile they engaged. The cost of using these cheaper interceptors, however, was operational risk, allowing the missile within a mile of the roughly $2 billion ship and all of the sailors on it before it was shot down.
RGM / UGM-109C (Block III TLAM-C) is a conventional unitary variant, carrying a 1,000lb-class warhead. RGM / UGM-109D (Block III TLAM-D) is a submunitions dispenser variant armed with 166 combined-effects bomblets. A land variant of MACE might fulfill the same requirement and in an attritional fight like that in Ukraine, its low cost would be highly desired. If MACE is successful, there’s a good chance that it could be used as a shipborne missile fired from the Mark 41 Vertical Launching Systems (VLS) that equips the Navy’s cruisers and destroyers.
The missile was first deployed in combat during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. “What’s happening in parallel is in the development of hypersonic missile that are a smaller form factor than the boost-glide weapons that are coming to maturity now,” Clark said. “And if they can get it down to being able to fit in [the Mark 41], then that could provide the Navy a next-generation capability that is more survivable and has a shorter time of flight. The missile has been able to stay at the $1 million price range, which is on the low end for missiles. Raytheon’s supersonic SM-6 can reach speeds of Mach 3.5 – with future iterations believed to be capable of reaching hypersonic speeds – but cost more than four times as much per shot and have less range.
The new missile will be compatible with the B-52H and planned B-21 bombers. The SLCM-N was recommended early in 2018, but it took several years for officials to complete the military requirements and conduct an analysis of alternatives. By this point, there was a new administration, and the Biden administration’s Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) reversed the SLCM-N decision in 2022. Treatment for anthrax would include antibacterial rounds and specific anthrax vaccines, with an estimated overall treatment cost of $46,099 per person.
Ensuring no harm is done to schedules for the ongoing nuclear modernization programs must be a priority. The medical costs for the immediate and evacuation ranges would be extremely large, with high loss of life that continuously increases closer to missile’s point of impact. With evaporation taking days, and under cold environments it can take months, widespread medical decontamination would be necessary along with relocation for people in the affected area which would be a substantial cost. The measurements compared in the graph above are yields needed to double the initial fireball blast radius each time. The yield has a general multiplication of 5.65 to double the blast radius.
Costs for rebuilding would be significant for complete reconstruction, estimated to be as high as $12.6 trillion if hit by a missile with an 18Mt payload, based on the HE rebuilding costs. The Block Vb adds a new warhead with different modes for destroying buried targets. The 4,000th Tomahawk Block IV missile was delivered to the US Navy in August 2017. The US Navy warships and submarines launched 66 GPS-enabled Tomahawk missiles at Syrian chemical weapon facilities in 2018. Multi-engine maritime patrol airplanes and bombers have considerable underwing space where several large cruise missiles like the LRASM and JASSM can be carried. Space is at a greater premium on the F-35 and Super Hornet, a reality that likely explains the RFI’s advisement that, "The USN desired MACE solution will maximize weapon load-out..."
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