Article Posted on : - Aug 13, 2010

The Tomahawk land attack missile.

PHILADELPHIA (BNS): US Navy has awarded a $16.6 million contract to Lockheed Martin to continue software development for the Tactical Tomahawk Weapons Control System (TTWCS).

The TTWCS system integrates launch hardware and software to provide weapon control for variants of the Tomahawk land attack missile.

Under the contract, Lockheed will provide systems engineering, software development, hardware support, and management required to continue the system upgrades to address significant hardware, software, and interoperability obsolescence issues, the company said.

Integrated with the ship’s navigation, communication, situational awareness and launch systems, the TTWCS computes the missile’s route to strike targets. It also provides the capability to plan new missions aboard the launch platform and communicate with multiple Tomahawks to rapidly retarget and redirect the missiles in flight.

The US naval ships designed to equip the Tomahawk missile systems include the CG 47 class cruisers, DDG 51, and Zumwalt class destroyers, SSGN, SSN 688, SSN 21, and SSN 774 class submarines.

Lockheed Martin has been providing support to the Tomahawk programme since 1999.