A U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile flew into the future today proving once again its readiness for the Year 2000 and beyond. As part of the USS JOHN C. STENNIS aircraft carrier battle group, USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN (CG-57), a TICONDEROGA-Class cruiser, launched the Tomahawk at 8:02 a.m. on March 2 in the year 2000. The missile flew a land attack mission profile to the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division land range at China Lake, California, where it completed its mission at 9:26 a.m.

This Y2K test is one of several this year that has demonstrated Tomahawk's readiness for the year 2000 but was the first end-to-end demonstration of the missile's abilities during a major Y2K Fleet Exercise.

To prove operational readiness of this weapon system in the year 2000, all clocks associated with the launch process were advanced to Feb. 28, 2000. The test mission was then fired three days later with all system clocks indicating March 2, 2000.

On May 9 USS San Francisco (SSN-711) successfully completed a separate end-to-end Y2K flight demonstration. On several occasions prior to that, all Tomahawk equipment was individually tested and certified Y2K compliant in a laboratory environment.

Seconds after launch from the ship's vertical launching system, the Tomahawk missile transitioned to cruise flight. It flew a fully guided 550-mile test flight using Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM) and Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) navigation to a target and recovery site on the China Lake 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 launch was conducted as part of the Pacific Fleet Y2K operational validation for the USS JOHN C STENNIS Battle Group, a 16-ship at-sea final integration test event. The operational validation was planned using a multi-level approach, examining the interaction between systems in a battle group environment and demonstrating end-to-end capability.

Tomahawk is the nation's "weapon of choice" for critical, long range, precision strike missions against high value or heavily defended targets. Tomahawk missiles are deployed throughout the world's oceans on various surface ships and submarines.

While maintaining its deep strike capability, Tomahawk continues to evolve to meet the warfighters' needs for a more flexible and "tactical" precision strike weapon. Future variants will incorporate new technologies providing new operational capabilities and new missions while significantly reducing acquisition and life cycle costs.

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.

This was the fifth launch of a Tomahawk test missile by USS LAKE CHAMPLAIN, and the 376th Tomahawk flight test.

Naval Aviation Systems Team
One TEAM delivering 21st century aviation solutions enabling dominance from the sea

For further information contact:
Cathy Partusch, Public Affairs Officer, PEO (CU)
Voice: (301) 757-6316 Pager: (888) 534-6628
[email protected]

Sandy Schroeder, Deputy Public Affairs Officer, PEO (CU)
Voice: (301) 757-5289
[email protected]