War in Ukraine: “Capable of destroying major Russian cities”, what is this tomahawk missile that Trump could entrust to kyiv?

Donald Trump would have, once again, changed course? After frozen for a time of arms deliveries to Ukraine, the American president handed over the current aid plan of $ 10 billion. The White House tenant also authorized kyiv to use Atacms missiles, and would even lean to go to the upper step.

According to the revelations of the Washington Post on Monday, Trump is planning to provide Tomahawk cruise missiles. A weapon claimed since last year by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but that the US government had always refused to send, according to the New York Times.

450 kg of explosives on board

But why is Tomahawk so important for Ukraine? This subsonic cruise missile would simply become the most powerful very powerful missile in kyiv’s hands. “Faster” than classic long-range missiles, according to the specialized site UNITED24, the Tomahawk, with a range of more than 2,500 km, would be above all “capable of touching and destroying major Russian cities” like Moscow and Saint Petersburg.

Currently, no other missile of the Ukrainian arsenal can reach neither such a distance – the tomahawk has a range six to seven times higher than that of the long -range missile systems atacms which Ukraine has acquired this year – nor such power. From its 5.6 meters, the tomahawk can take a 450 kg warhead for 1.3 tonnes at the balance.

This weapon, worth 1.5 million dollars, has already proven itself during American strikes in Iran at the end of June. Launched from ships, submarines or land platforms, Tomahawk allows great strategic flexibility, and above all great discretion thanks to its flight characteristics.

The “BGM-109”, its official name, is propelled by a double-flow turborateur and can fly at low altitude, depending on the relief at heights of around 30 to 60 meters, which makes radar detection difficult. In addition to that, he retains excellent precision compared to his target, thanks to a system combining GPS, inertial navigation and correspondence of contours of the field (Tercom). It can operate either according to a preprogrammed trajectory, or by satellite communication to change target in full flight, linger and modify its trajectory on order.

“A means of pressure”

Originally developed by General Dynamics in the 1970s, then taken up by Raytheon, the Tomahawk missile was used for the first time in 1991, during the Gulf War. 34 years later in Ukraine, no specific date has yet been sent for any delivery of Tomahawk, the missile not yet part of the list of weapons sent by the United States to Ukraine.

“They could be deployed later if Trump wishes to obtain more pressure means,” according to the columnist of the Washington Post David Ignatius. Tomahawk remains, for the moment, a weapon of persuasion. But its use by Ukraine is getting closer.