What is a Tomahawk?

A tomahawk cruise missile or TLAM (Tomahawk Land Attack Missile) as the military refers to it is a precision guided munition with a range of about 1000 miles. It is an extremely flexible weapon system in that it can be reprogrammed in-flight, hugs the ground as it flies near supersonic speed and can even loiter around for a bit while waiting for orders. 

They utilize radar, GPS and inertial guidance to navigate to the target. TLAMs can be programmed to follow very specific routes and uses a terrain matching system to avoid air defenses. In other words we can launch numerous TLAMs from a single point and have each one take a different route to the target. These weapons give the US a massive advantage of surprise.

TLAMs can be launched from submarines, destroyers, cruisers and aircraft. Due to treaty constraints the US does not have the capability to launch these missiles from ground units. Thus, the US primarily relies upon ships and subs to employ these beasts. This system is so significant that the US Navy converted 4 submarines to carry up to 150 TLAMs each. These submarines were initially designed  to carry 24 Trident II nuclear missiles but with the end of the cold war the Navy repurposed 4 of them to carry Tomahawks,,lots of Tomahawks. 

TLAMs are armed with conventional explosive warhead, and if that were not enough development is ongoing to utilize any remaining fuel as part of the explosive package. TLAMs are so accurate that they can be sent in waves with the first missile or two opening a hardened structure to allow successive rounds to enter the target for maximum effect and destruction.