The U.S. Navy class justification and approval published last week authorized the procurement of 837 Maritime Strike Tomahawk (MST) seekers from Raytheon Missiles and Defense through FY2028, with the J&A including follow-on support and additional capabilities now in the pipeline for the Block V Tomahawk family of missiles that include modifications to field the missiles on U.S. Army and U.S. Marine Corps ground-based launchers.
The justification is separate to any additional authorized buys appropriated by Congress for the U.S. Navy, DOD customers, and potential Foreign Military Sales (FMS) customers through FY2028, but does include those Congressionally authorized buys moving forward, adding to the procurement list of Tomahawk missiles across the fleet. The U.S. Navy ordered the upgrade of 96 Tomahawk missiles in July, and the Netherlands requested up to 200 Tomahawk missiles in May.
The CJ&A authorizes follow-on work for production line improvements, Ultra 1.2 software and hardware development (MST’s seeker processor obsolescence upgrade), electromagnetic environmental effects full-envelope tests, and the correction of deficiencies identified in developmental and operational testing, among other line items.
Notably, the approval also authorizes all modifications to the Maritime Strike Tomahawk needed to enable launches from U.S. Marine Corps and U.S. Army launchers, which Naval News previously covered when the U.S. Marine Corps dropped its Tomahawk launch capability, handing it off to the U.S. Army for further testing and evaluation. The U.S. Army also operates its Mid-Range Capability (MRC) system that will fire MST.
The approval also mentions further developments of the MST’s passive seeker and any efforts to utilize the full range of MST’s passive sensor. It is not immediately what passive seeker the MST may use, though Raytheon tested a internally funded passive seeker for Block IV Tomahawk missiles over a decade ago that enabled rudimentary strikes on moving and uncertain targets with traditional land-attack cruise missiles.
The Maritime Strike Tomahawk achieved Early Operational Capability (EOC) in Q4 FY2025 fielded by the U.S. Navy aboard surface warships. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) is planned for FY2027, with a full-rate production decision due by FY2029. The U.S. Army, U.S. Marine Corps, and U.S. Navy have bought Tomahawk missiles so far, with the Marine Corps’ inventory transferred to the Army after the force shuttered its Long-Range Missile (LMSL) batteries this year.
MST will make up a significant portion of the U.S. Navy’s surface and subsurface anti-ship capability in the 2030s, pending additional decisions of a canister-launched LRASM that could give surface combatants additional firepower. The U.S. Navy has been continually iterating on the design, software, and hardware as the missile progresses through developmental and operational testing at an accelerated pace to meet U.S. Navy EOC requirements.
