Word: tomahawking
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EXPECT Republican candidates to pound their opponents for voting against popular weapons systems like the Patriot and the F-117A Stealth Fighter. To be sure, both parties deserve credit for the current military success in the Gulf. Development of the Tomahawk cruise missile and the Stealth fighter program, for example, took place during the Carter Administration...
...Defense Initiative, which uses Patriot-like technology. And they will no doubt remind voters that many Democrats opposed deployment of sea-launched cruise missiles for arms control purposes. Candidates might pose blunt questions like, "How many more pilots would have died had the Democrats been able to kill the Tomahawk...
...real technological marvels in the U.S. missile array are the sea- launched Tomahawk cruise missiles that smashed Iraqi air-defense systems early in the war. Packed with advanced electronics and several different guidance systems, they are essentially flying computers capable of sailing through the goalposts on a football field from a range of several hundred miles. They can also perform dizzying acrobatics, as witnessed by U.S. reporters who, before they were ousted from Iraq, watched with amazement as a Tomahawk streaked below their hotel windows and made a pair of swooping 90 degrees turns to avoid the Al Rasheed...
...secret of the Tomahawk's precision flying is a two-step guidance system. First, a radar altimeter compares the topography of key landmarks along the missile's flight path with detailed contour maps stored in its computer memory. Then, as the Tomahawk approaches its target, a small digital camera, acting as an electronic eye, compares the view from the nose cone with a library of images prepared from satellite photos. If the missile sees that it is even slightly off course, it makes adjustments...
Weapons experts are quick to point out the deficiencies of the Scud missile. It is unwieldy and inaccurate, practically antique, a dinosaur compared with the sleek and precise Tomahawk cruise missile. But clumsiness can still be dangerous -- as Israel discovered when a dozen Scuds came galumphing into Tel Aviv and Haifa last week. Designed by the Soviets to deliver nuclear warheads over a short range, the Scud can miss its mark by as much as a mile. It is most effective against large cities, where the goal is not to hit a specific target but to terrorize the population. During...