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Graphic shows Aegis Ashore missile defence system.
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MILITARY

U.S. tests ground-launched Tomahawk

By Duncan Mil

September 3, 2019 - Just over two weeks after the Trump administration withdrew from the Intermediate-range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) the U.S. flight-tested a ground-launched cruise missile, previously banned by the accord.

On August 2, Washington quit the INF which banned nuclear and conventional ground-launched ballistic and cruise missiles with ranges of 500 to 5,500km, citing that Moscow᾿s 9M729 Iskander-M violated the treaty.

No longer bound by the 1987 treaty, the U.S. is now flight-testing ground-based cruise missiles that can fly between 500km and 2,500km, reports Jane’s Defence Weekly.

On San Nicolas Island, California, on August 18, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) conducted a flight test of a Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missile (LACM).

“The test missile exited its ground mobile launcher and accurately impacted its target after more than 500km of flight,” the department said. A DoD spokesperson told Jane’s that the U.S. Navy used a Mark 41 Vertical Launching System (Mk 41 VLS) to fire a “variant” of the Tomahawk LACM.

The Mk 41 VLS is integral to the Aegis Ashore ballistic missile defence system which the U.S. has deployed in Poland and Romania.

The Mk 41 VLS capability to simultaneously prepare two SM-3 missiles in each eight-cell launcher module allows for fast reaction to multiple missile threats. The Standard Missile 3 interceptor uses the kinetic force of impact to destroy enemy ballistic missiles. If the Mk 41 VLS can now be configured to launch Tomahawks from eastern Europe, it puts further strains on U.S.-Russia ties.

Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov called it “regrettable”, Russia’s TASS news agency reported. “Perhaps, there can be no clearer and more explicit confirmation of the fact that the United States has been developing such systems for a long time,” added Ryabkov.

Sources
PUBLISHED: 04/09/2019; STORY: Graphic News; PICTURES: Department of Defense
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