In March 2023, it was announced that Australia intended to buy
200 Tomahawk RGM-109E Block V all-up-rounds (AURs), 20 RGM-109E Block IV AURs along with the necessary equipment and support. The recent press reports indicate that an order has been made for the 200 Block V’s but there’s been no mention of the 20 Block IV’s.
http://200 Tomahawk RGM-109E Block V...t and support.
My interpretation of the original plan was that the 20 Block IV’s would have kits added to them to make them suitable for Collins submarine tube launched missiles and thus become UGM-109E Block IV missiles. As those kits are no longer in production, I suspect that they were intending to get them from USN stocks as they were used in the first batch of Los Angeles class submarines and are probably in storage. When the Royal Navy replaced their tube launched Block III’s with Block IV’s, they had to migrate the UGM kits across to the new missiles as new kits were no longer available.
The recent lack of firm orders for the Block IV’s indicates that they no longer intend to fit Tomahawk’s to the Collins class as part of the LOTE and wait to have that capability when the first 2 Virginia class join the fleet circa 2032. This would not be desirable as the last Collins class is expected to retire in 2046 so they would still have to provide full capability for the remainder of their service life.
Last edited by Going Boeing; 28th Aug 2023 at 08:55.