The idea was to provide units of the U.S. Navy with a really long-range (250 NM/410 km) antiship missile. One problem that had to be overcome was the fact that a TASM flying out to hit a target ship at maximum range would have to fly almost thirty minutes to get to the target area. During this time, a fast warship might travel as far as fifteen to twenty miles, so a special series of search patterns was added to the TASM launch and control software. These search patterns comprise a series of "expanding boxes" designed to allow the TASM to fully search the uncertainty zone or the possible target area. In addition, TASM has a passive ESM system called PI/DF (Passive Identification /Passive Direction Finding), which is designed to direct TASM onto larger enemy warships, probably through detection of their large air-search radars.
Following the TASM into service was the largest subfamily of the R/BGM-109 program, the Tomahawk Land Attack Missile-Conventional (TLAM-C) series. This particular series takes the basic guidance system of the TLAM-N, adds the high-explosive warhead of the TASM, and a new terminal guidance system called Digital Scene Matching (DSMAC). It has a range of roughly 700 NM/1,150 km, and uses the same basic Tercom system to get into the vicinity of the target. DSMAC is an electro-optical system that matches the image from a small television camera in the nose of the TLAM-C to one stored in system memory. This system can even be used at night, with a strobe light on the target during the final approach. Called the B/UGM-109C, it became the first of the Tomahawk series to be used in combat, during Operation Desert Storm.
Several derivatives of the basic TLAM-C include the B/UGM- 109D, which replaced the basic high-explosive warhead with a dispenser for 166 BLU-97/B combined effects (fragmentation and blast) submunitions. Called TLAM-D, these Tomahawks are particularly effective against vehicles, personnel, soft targets, and exposed aircraft. A further variant of the TLAM-D, which is armed with antirunway cratering submunitions, is known as the B/UGM-109F. The newest version of Tomahawk, called Block III, incorporates a number of new features such as its own Navstar GPS receiver, a new penetration warhead, an improved engine, and more fuel to bring its range to over 1,000 NM/1,640 km. It should be operational in 1994.
All the various types of Tomahawks can be loaded and fired from any 21-inch/533mm torpedo tube or VLS tube on the Miami. Besides twelve missiles in the VLS tubes, additional Tomahawk rounds, as required by a particular mission, can be stored in the torpedo room. This makes Tomahawk the most flexible strike system ever deployed by the U.S. Navy. It also opens a new dimension for the U.S. SSN force, since now they can join the surface and air forces in striking "over the beach" at significant targets.
The following might be a typical mission load-out for the Miami. When preparing to leave for a cruise to the Mediterranean, she might carry a full load of Tomahawks, which would include twelve VLS tubes full of TLAM-C/D variants, with several more in the torpedo room racks. In addition, she would carry a mixed load of Mk 48 Mod 4s and ADCAPs, as well as several Harpoon Block ID antiship missiles. There would be no TLAM-Ns, as all of these have been withdrawn from U.S. ships, aircraft, and submarines following President Bush's order in the fall of 1991. Nevertheless, though it is the policy of the U.S. Navy not to deploy nuclear weapons, and they normally refuse to discuss it, the capability does still exist. Also, there would be no TASMs aboard, as the submarine community seems to feel that the Harpoon Block ID is more than adequate to the antishipping task, and the TASMs are hard to get long-range targeting for, on a submarine.
The biggest single bottleneck to effectively utilizing the growing force of TLAM-C/D cruise missiles in the inventory is the preparation of suitable mission plans. Each mission plan has to be developed from a Tercom data base that the Defense Mapping Agency (DMA) has assembled over a period of fifteen years. The data is made into mission plans at one of the Theater Mission Planning Centers (TMPC) located at various places around the world. Here the Tercom data bases are merged with terminal target photos (for the DSMAC cameras), to produce mission plans that can be stored on disk packs on the sub, or downloaded to the sub via a satellite link.
Once the Miami has a particular mission plan aboard, the basic plan can be modified on the BSY-1 Command and Control System (CCS Tac Mk 2) console in the control room. Located adjacent to the BSY-1 fire control consoles, this console can be used to plan and control missions for all the variants of Harpoon and Tomahawk. Should Miami not have a plan available in her onboard library, she can use the CCS-2 to develop her own plans. And with the coming deployment of the Block III version of TLAM-C, the requirement for access to a complete Tercom library for mission planning will be reduced.
To launch a Tomahawk or Harpoon, the boat has to slow to about 3 to 5 knots and come to periscope depth. The CCS-2 (or BSY-1 in the case of Harpoon or TASM) console operator powers up and loads a mission plan into a missile loaded in either a torpedo or VLS launch tube. This can be done for as many or as few missiles as the situation requires. Once this is done, the weapons officer inserts a launch key (a holdover from the old TLAM-N days) and presses the firing button. If the weapon is a Tomahawk, it is ejected from the tube (the version fired from torpedo tubes is carried in a tube liner), fires its booster rocket, and away it goes. If it is a Harpoon, the weapon in its buoyant capsule is ejected from the tube and heads for the surface. When it gets there, the booster rocket fires, and it heads for the designated target.
The one problem with all these missiles is that they make the firing submarine extremely vulnerable to detection by aircraft or surface ships, and the amount of noise made by a missile being fired underwater is simply amazing. So it is essential that if the Miami is ever tasked with firing a weapon, as the USS Pittsburgh (SSN-720) and USS Louisville (SSN-724) did during Desert Storm (they fired a total of fourteen TLAM-Cs and TLAM-Ds), she will have to be sure she is clear of any threat during the launch cycle.
Mines
Probably the least appreciated weapons that can be carried by a 688I are mines. These "weapons that wait" are perhaps the most cost effective weapons ever derived for naval warfare. Though most of the mining done by the United States since the end of World War II has been done by aircraft, there may be situations where the stealth and precision of a submarine may be preferred for delivery of these dangerous "eggs."
The first of these is the Mark (Mk) 57 moored mine. It is a derivative of the air-dropped Mk 56 and can be moored in several hundred feet of water. It has a variety of different sensor and triggering systems, including acoustic and magnetic influence fuses. They can be programmed for activation delay or programmed to activate only for certain types and numbers of ships.
Another type is the Mk 67 mobile mine. These are obsolete Mk 37 torpedoes that have been rebuilt into mines that lie on the bottom and wait for a target to drive over them. A submarine might fire them up into a shallow channel, to a distance of 5 to 7 miles. Like the Mk 57, this mine has a variety of different fusing options.
