British Sub Returns to Fleet With Latest Tomahawk
By andrew chuter
Published: 4 Apr 08:49 EDT (04:49 GMT)
LONDON - Britain's Royal Navy has declared the latest version of the Tomahawk land attack missile operational onboard the newly uprated nuclear-powered submarine HMS Torbay.
The attack submarine is returning to the fleet following a yearlong refit, which has seen upgrades to allow the boat to carry the Block 4 version of the Raytheon built cruise missile as well the fitting of an improved variant of its Thales supplied Sonar 2076 system.
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Also included in the work was routine maintenance, new communications systems allowing the Internet to be used while the vessel is submerged in deep water, as well as a new Lockheed Martin charting system being fitted to Torbay for trials work.
The new missile has a significantly improved response time, a longer range and higher precision at a reduced cost compared with the existing Tomahawk fitted by the British.
Britain's Ministry of Defence signed a 70 million-pound deal to purchase 64 of the new TLAM missiles from the U.S. four years ago.
The refit at the Faslane naval base in Scotland was undertaken in an 8 million-pound program of work by Babcock Marine.
Procurement minister Baroness Taylor said the overhaul was part of a program to ensure the Navy's Trafalgar-class submarines will remain operational until the end of the next decade.
The Torbay is set to conduct sea trials and training over the next few months and is expected to be fully operational by the summer.
The refit is part of a program to upgrade four Trafalgar-class boats, starting with the Torbay, to the standard of the new Astute-class boats.
The first of up to seven Astute-class vessels is scheduled to be handed over to the Navy this year.
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