Raytheon Company completed a successful field test of an advanced electronic support measure (ESM) seeker installed in a Block IV Tomahawk missile as part of the company’s new product improvement programme.

The ESM seeker incorporates a stateof-the-art processor and antenna to locate and track moving and fixed emitting targets. The seeker’s capability was validated in a realistic high-density environment after seven months of testing in anechoic chambers.

“This new moving target capability would enhance Tomahawk’s already exceptional land attack mode capability by allowing it to engage moving targets on land,” said Roy Donelson, Tomahawk Program Director for Raytheon Missile Systems. “We believe this evolution would align with the Department of Defense’s vision of increasing capability while maintaining development costs.”

The new multi-mode seeker technology would allow the Navy’s Surface Action Group to fire Tomahawks from sanctuary and defeat mobile threats at long range.

With a range of approximately 1,000 statute miles, the Tomahawk Block IV missile is a surface- and submarine-launched precision strike stand-off weapon. Tomahawk is designed for long-range precision strike missions against high-value and heavily defended targets. More than 2,000 Tomahawks have been employed in combat. Tomahawk is integrated on all major US surface combatants, as well as US and UK subsurface platforms, including the Los Angeles, Virginia, Ohio, Astute and Trafalgar class submarines.