A U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile was launched today from USS MINNEAPOLIS-SAINT PAUL (SSN 708), a LOS ANGELES-class submarine underway in the Atlantic sea ranges east of Jacksonville, Fla., and safely terminated on the Eglin Air Force Base test range.

Seconds after launch from the submarine’s torpedo tube, the Tomahawk missile transitioned to cruise flight. It flew a fully guided 825-nautical-mile flight using Terrain Contour Matching navigation to a target and recovery site on the Eglin range. The missile’s parachute recovery system was activated as planned. The missile was safely recovered and will be refurbished for future use.

The Tomahawk cruise missile is a long range, subsonic cruise missile used for land attack warfare, launched from surface ships and submarines. Tomahawk is designed to fly at extremely low altitudes at high subsonic speeds, and can be flown over evasive routes by several mission tailored guidance systems. Most recently, the Navy awarded Raytheon Missile Systems, Tucson, Arizona, a $1.6 billion firm-fixed price contract to produce up to 2200 Tomahawk block IV missiles for the U.S. Navy’s surface ship and submarine strike warfare fleets. Tomahawk missiles are deployed throughout the world’s oceans on numerous surface ships and submarines, including AEGIS-class cruisers, guided missile destroyers, and SEAWOLF and LOS ANGELES-class submarines.

The Tomahawk program is managed by the Program Executive Office, Strike Weapons and Unmanned Aviation (PEO(W)) co-located at the NAVAIR complex in Patuxent River, Maryland. The missile is manufactured by Raytheon Missile Systems in Tucson, Ariz. As in all Tomahawk flight tests, air route safety was carefully planned in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). For safety purposes, the Tomahawk could have been guided by commands from safety chase aircraft. Tomahawk is a registered trademark of the United States Navy.