Navy moving ahead with Tomahawk integration on Zumwalt

The Navy will begin final Tomahawk integration with the Navy's Zumwalt-class destroyers in a few months.

Naval Air Systems Command intends to issue a delivery order under a basic ordering agreement to Raytheon to complete Tomahawk Block IV All-Up-Round integration into DDG-1000, according to a notice released today.

The service hopes to start integration in June and the effort is expected to last five months, with an option for 12 months, according to the notice.

In 2020, the Navy began modernizing the Tomahawk Block IV variant to extend the missile’s certification another 15 years by replacing obsolete components, upgrading the communications systems and providing a targeting capability in a GPS-denied environment, Director of Operational Test and Evaluation Nickolas Guertin wrote in his fiscal year 2021 annual report.

The modernized AUR is the Block V variant, DOT&E states.

“The Tomahawk Block V AUR demonstrated sufficient accuracy in a GPS-denied environment and the capability to operate on the Advanced Communication Architecture network,” according to DOT&E.

However, a classified Tomahawk Weapon System follow-on test & evaluation report, published in October, highlighted deficiencies that need to be resolved before the introduction of the upgraded TWS Block IV to the fleet, DOT&E states.