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Tomahawk Missile In Action
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The United States agreed to sell more than 60 Tomahawks to the United Kingdom in 1995 for use with Royal Navy nuclear submarines. The first missiles were acquired and test-fired in 1998.
All Royal Navy submarines are currently (as of 2011) Tomahawk capable, including the new Astute class attack submarine.
In 2004, the UK and US governments reached an agreement for the British to buy 64 of the new generation of Tomahawk missile—the Block IV or TacTom missile. The SYLVER vertical launch system to be fitted to the new Type 45 destroyer is claimed by its manufacturers to have the capability to fire the Tomahawk. Therefore it would appear that Tomahawk is a candidate to be fitted to the Type 45 if required. France, which also uses the SYLVER launcher, is developing a version of the Storm Shadow/Scalp cruise missile capable of launch from the SYLVER system, which would give a similar land attack capability.
The Kosovo War in 1999 saw HMS Splendid become the first British submarine to fire the Tomahawk in combat. It has been reported that seventeen of the twenty Tomahawks fired by the British during that conflict hit their targets accurately. The Royal Navy later used them in Operation Telic during the 2001 Afghanistan War, the British contribution to the 2003 Iraq War and during Operation Ellamy in Libya, 2011.
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