A U.S. Navy Tomahawk cruise missile was launched today at 8:45 a.m. PDT from USS SALT LAKE CITY (SSN-716), a submerged LOS ANGELES-Class submarine, off the southern California coast Point Mugu Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) Weapons Division sea range and flew a land attack mission to the NAVAIR Weapons Division land range at China Lake, California.

Seconds after a torpedo tube launch from the submarine, the Tomahawk missile transitioned to cruise flight. It flew a fully guided 811-mile test flight using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to a target impact site on the China Lake range.

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.

The USS SALT LAKE CITY is one of the fast attack submarine class that makes up the majority of the submarine force. Today’s launch occurred as part of the USS JOHN C STENNIS Battle Group Fleet Exercise.

Today marked the 393rd Tomahawk flight test.