The Tomahawk has been a mainstay of the US missile arsenal for more than four decades—and has remained relevant to the modern era, as the weekend’s strikes in Nigeria show.
The Trump administration recently announced the use of Tomahawk cruise missiles against terrorist targets in Nigeria. The Tomahawk is one of the most enduring and influential weapons of the post-Cold War era—as demonstrated in Nigeria, an example of how the US uses force without risking pilots. A symbol of stand-off precision warfare, the Tomahawk is America’s preferred way to strike first from afar.
What Exactly Is a Tomahawk Missile?
The Tomahawk is a long-range, subsonic, land-attack cruise missile. Launched from surface ships and submarines, the Tomahawk is designed to fly low, terrain-hugging routes to evade enemy radar. The missile is optimized for precision strikes against high-value fixed targets—which, for the Trump administration’s purposes, made them ideal for use against the terrorist camps in Nigeria.
The missile’s origin stems from the late Cold War. The United States was concerned about penetrating dense Soviet air defenses and felt the need for a non-nuclear, precision strike option. The Tomahawk was developed as an answer, and although early variants included nuclear-armed version, those were later retired, leaving only the conventional variants in service.
The Tomahawk entered service in the 1980s and became operationally iconic during the Gulf War, when the missile was mass employed, and its impacts were televised globally. Through the 1990s, and the 2000s, the Tomahawk has been used recurrently as a conflict opener. In conflicts spanning Europe, Africa, and Asia—the Balkans, Libya, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan—the Tomahawk is a consistent presence.
How the Tomahawk Missile Works
For guidance, the Tomahawk relies on a combination of INS, GPS, TERCOM, and DSMAC. This enables high accuracy over very long distances. The flight profile is subsonic and low altitude, with pre-programmed waypoints. The missile is designed not for speed, but for stealth through low observability. The payload features a conventional high-explosive warhead, which is effective against hardened or high-value fixed targets. Launch platforms for the Tomahawk include vertical launch systems (VLS) on destroyers and cruisers, or torpedo tubes on submarines.
Tactically, the Tomahawk is often used in opening phases of a conflict, to knock out air defenses, command centers, radar, infrastructure, etc. This allows the US to strike without overflight permissions, without immediate air superiority. Often, Tomahawk salvos are paired with follow-on air campaigns.
Strategically, the Tomahawk gives the US low-risk power projection, a kinetic airborne presence without needing pilots over enemy territory. This reduces escalation risk compared to manned strikes. The Tomahawk also serves as a signaling tool, as a “measured” use of force that is visible but relatively limited. In this respect, the US uses their Tomahawks for punishment, deterrence, and messaging. The missile has also become central to US naval strike doctrine, converting ships into mobile strike bases rather than just passive fleet defenders.
The main limitation of the missile is its subsonic speed. Because it moves slowly, the Tomahawk is vulnerable to modern integrated air defenses if used repeatedly. And the missile is not effective against mobile targets, which limits the application to fixed or semi-fixed targets. The Tomahawk is also quite expensive, encouraging selective use. And the effectiveness of Tomahawk strikes often depends immensely on the quality of available intelligence.
In short, the Tomahawk is not a perfect system. But through continuous modernizations, especially improved GPS accuracy, the Tomahawk has remained relevant almost three decades into the 21st century, as the recent strike in Nigeria suggests.
About the Author: Harrison Kass
Harrison Kass is a senior defense and national security writer at The National Interest. Kass is an attorney and former political candidate who joined the US Air Force as a pilot trainee before being medically discharged. He focuses on military strategy, aerospace, and global security affairs. He holds a JD from the University of Oregon and a master’s in Global Journalism and International Relations from NYU.
Image: Shutterstock / e-crow.
