The US State Department has approved sale of Tomahawk missile mission planning equipment to Australia though a US$300 million Foreign Military Sales (FMS) deal.
In the notification to Congress this week, the State Department said Australia had requested to buy a Theatre Mission Planning Center (TMPC) and associated communications systems, TMPC Mission Planning System (MPS), program management, engineering, training and logistics services to support the development, procurement and delivery of the MPS plus related logistics and program support.
“This proposed sale supports the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States. Australia is one of our most important allies and is critical to promoting stability and security in the Indo-Pacific and around the world,” it said.
“Assisting our ally in developing and maintaining a strong and ready self-defence capability advances US national interests.”
The State Department said this proposed sale would improve Australia’s capability to meet current and future threats by enhancing its Tomahawk capability, strengthening its ability to deter regional threats, and improving its homeland defence.
The principal contractors will be BAE Systems, located in San Diego, California, Tapestry Solutions, located in St. Louis, Missouri, Peraton, in San Jose, California; and Leidos, in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
This FMS deal doesn’t involve actual Tomahawk missiles as we already have those.
The US State Department approved a FMS deal for sale of Tomahawk missile to Australia in March 2023.
That involved up to 200 Tomahawk Block V All Up Rounds (AUR) (RGM-109E) and up to 20 Tomahawk Block IV AUR (RGM-109E).
Also included was support for all three segments of Australia’s Tomahawk Weapon System (TWS), including the missiles , Tactical Tomahawk Weapon Control System and the Theatre Mission Planning Centre.
FMS sale deals don’t include any information on whether the capabilities have actually been delivered.
However, in December 2024, the government announced a Tomahawk had been fired from HMAS Brisbane during a test and evaluation activity off the US west coast.
At the time that made us only the third country in the world to acquire and fire a Tomahawk cruise missile. The Royal Navy, Japanese Navy and Royal Netherlands Navy also employ Tomahawk.
Other than crewed platforms, Tomahawk is the longest range strike weapon in the ADF inventory. With a unit price around US$4 million, Tomahawk is among the more expensive. Actual range is classified though it’s upwards of 1500 kilometres.
Tomahawk, a jet engine powered subsonic cruise missile, was developed during the late Cold War, with early variants carrying nuclear warheads.
Tomahawks were first employed operationally in the first Iraq war. Many have been fired in subsequent conflicts, including some 1000 in the war with Iran.