e computer then gives the wings and tail fins a final adjustment and takes the warhead to its target.The Tomahawk and the Tomahawk Antiship missile (TASM) are fitted on Iowa-class battleships, cruisers of the Virginia, Long Beach, and Ticonderoga classes, and destroyers of the Arleigh Burke and Spruance classes.Desert Storm was the first combat test of the cruise missile system. It also marked the first coordinated Tomahawk and manned aircraft strike in history. Within the first few minutes of Operation Desert Storm, Tomahawk missiles launched from battleships Missouri and Wisconsin struck with accuracy at Iraqs presidential palace, (Hersh, Press, 1994, p.137).During the war, 297 Tomahawks were fired, of which 282 began their mission successfully, nine failed to leave the tube and six fell into the water after leaving the tube. At least two, and possibly as many as 6 were shot down, most or all of them in a single mission profile most of the way to its target, (Friedman, Naval Institute Press, 1991, p.231).U.S. Forces used three platforms during the Gulf War that were in the stealth/low-observability category: the F-117 stealth fighter and two long-range cruise 3missiles, the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile (TLAM) and the Conventional Air-Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM).The F-117, which flew only two percent attack sorties, struck nearly forty percent of the strategic targets, and remained the centerpiece of the strategic air campaign for the entire war, (Mc Cain, Shyles, Press, 1993, p.183).Low observability made possible direct strikes at the heart of the Iraqi air defense system at the very outset of the war. In the past, we fought through elaborate defenses and accepted losses on the way to the target or rolled those defenses back. In the Gulf War, the coalition could strike Iraqi air defenses immediately, and they never recovered from these initial, stunning blows. With the combination of stealth and accuracy possessed by the F-117 st...
