Warfare in News

The first of the Royal Navy's new attack submarines, HMS Astute, has fired her first Tomahawk missiles across the North American skies as part of a test firing mission.

The Tomahawk weapons, which have a range of more than 1,000 miles, rocketed across the Gulf of Mexico at speeds of up to 550 miles per hour.

HMS Astute is in the Gulf of Mexico for her first test run. She can hold a combination of up to 38 Tomahawk missiles and Spearfish torpedoes: the largest weapon-carrying capacity of all the RN's attack submarines.

The UK is the only country supplied by the USA with Tomahawk technology. The Astute Class of nuclear-powered attack submarines are the RN's most technologically-advanced submarines and they will progressively replace the Trafalgar Class which are currently in service.

The Astute Class is designed to perform roles such as anti-submarine and surface ship warfare, and intelligence gathering.

HMS Astute was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 27 August 2010. She will continue her trials in the USA until the early spring and will return to the UK for training before her first operational deployment.

The first of the Royal Navy's new attack submarines, HMS [i]Astute[/i], has fired her first Tomahawk missiles across the North American skies as part of a test firing mission. The Tomahawk weapons, which have a range of more than 1,000 miles, rocketed across the Gulf of Mexico at speeds of up to 550 miles per hour. HMS [i]Astute[/i] is in the Gulf of Mexico for her first test run. She can hold a combination of up to 38 Tomahawk missiles and Spearfish torpedoes: the largest weapon-carrying capacity of all the RN's attack submarines. The UK is the only country supplied by the USA with Tomahawk technology. The [i]Astute[/i] Class of nuclear-powered attack submarines are the RN's most technologically-advanced submarines and they will progressively replace the [i]Trafalgar[/i] Class which are currently in service. The [i]Astute[/i] Class is designed to perform roles such as anti-submarine and surface ship warfare, and intelligence gathering. HMS [i]Astute[/i] was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 27 August 2010. She will continue her trials in the USA until the early spring and will return to the UK for training before her first operational deployment.