The U.S. authorized the sale of Tomahawk cruise missiles to Australia

The US State Department authorized the possible sale of more than 200 Tomahawk Block IV and Block V cruise missiles to Australia, at an estimated cost of 895 million dollars.

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The Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) issued a press release detailing the composition of the arms package offered to the Australian government. It is mainly composed of:

• 200 RGM-109E Tomahawk Block V All Up Rounds (AUR) cruise missiles
• 20 RGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV All Up Rounds (AUR) cruise missiles

Also included is support for all three segments of Australia’s Tomahawk Weapon System (TWS) to include the All Up Round (the complete missile, sealed inside its capsule and ready to install), the Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System (TTWCS) and theTheater Mission Planning Center (TMPC).

The support package consists of unscheduled missile maintenance; spare parts; procurement; procurement; training; in-service support; software; hardware; communications equipment; operational flight test; engineering and technical expertise to maintain TWS capability; and other related logistical and program support elements. The total estimated cost is $895 million.

See also: Japan close to getting Tomahawk cruise missiles

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Long arm for the Navy

The RGM-109E Tomahawk Block IV and V represent the latest standard in long-range ground-attack cruise missiles in use by the US. Navy, being able to reach targets 1,600 kms from the launch point.

Australia would integrate these cruise missiles into its Hobart class destroyers (air defense ship derived from the Spanish F-100 Alvaro de Bazan class design), of which the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has three units, and they may also go on to arm the future 9 Hunter class heavy frigates (derived from the British Type 26).

Australia also announced plans to create a fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines. Initially, three to five Virginia-class submarines would be purchased from the U.S. while it works with the U.K. on the development of a next-generation nuclear submarine, known as the AUKUS class. The Australian Virginia-class vessels are also likely to be armed with Tomahawk cruise missiles, in their submarine-launched version.