A Gulf War made the Tomahawk cruise missile a well-known superstar weapon in the world; and for more than 30 years since then, all the superpowers' external weapons have basically fired hundreds to dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles first; some short-term armed interference, and even launched dozens of Tomahawk from beginning to end, it is all over. Given that cruise missile has almost become synonymous with the beginning of modern warfare, other major powers have also begun to equip a large number of cruise missiles similar to Tomahawks, and they are also used in actual combat. However, at least two important reality is ignored. First, the Tomahawk missile had just experienced a "catastrophe" three years before the Gulf War. This is the provision of the 1988 Intermediate-Future Treaty, where all land-based versions of tomahawks with nuclear warheads and were all removed. But what is strange is that the tomahawks launched by sea-based and air-based are retained. If the tomahawk of the sea-based air-based tomahawk was also cut off at that time, then there would be no 1991 when the tomahawk was shining in the war. Second, the overall scale of the Desert Storm Operation in 1991 was huge. In addition to the tomahawk, nearly 100,000 other large and small precision guided weapons were launched, achieving great results. In particular, the actual results achieved by laser guided bomb are particularly obvious. However, most ordinary viewers in front of the TV do not have an absolute professional impression of this, so many people believe that since Tomahawk missiles always take the lead in war, it is easy to artificially install other types of powerful precision-guided weapons under inertial thinking. This actually covers up the problem of obvious insufficient strike power of almost all Tomahawk conventional cruise missiles. In fact, Tomahawk cruise missiles were already widely equipped in the two major military powers of the United States and the Soviet Union as early as the 1970s. However, most of these weapons at that time were basically carrying nuclear warheads. Any weapon carrying a nuclear warhead does not exist;
has a problem of inherent lack of power in the strike. After the Intermediate-Range Forces Treaty came into effect in 1988, all except the Land-Shock Tomahawk were removed. The superpowers' air-based and sea-based tomahawks have actually undergone great changes in roles, which is to carry tactical nuclear warheads, and to be replaced by general general warheads. The power of the strike is actually several orders of magnitude at once. However, this problem is easily concealed by precise hits in actual combat. During the peak of Cold War , once the United States had any advanced weapons, the Soviet Union would develop similar weapons systems as soon as it received intelligence. Therefore, in addition to the tomahawk, the Soviet Union also developed large cruise missiles at that time. This type of Soviet-style large cruise missile has been carried and launched by the strategic bomber , and has rarely appeared in public in the past. A large-scale conflict in 2022 almost exhausted decades of its assets and inventory. Therefore, the large air-launched cruise missiles that had been equipped in the late Soviet Union finally launched a large number of actual combat. The missile body of the Soviet-style cruise missile is 50% larger than that of ordinary tomahawks; the maximum range is often as high as 3,000 kilometers, which is almost twice as large as most tomahawks with a range of 1,500 kilometers. According to general rules, similar weapon systems should be larger in size, and the amount of warheads and charges should also be larger; it is normal for them to have greater lethality after hitting. However, through the video screenshots of actual combat hits, we found that the world's largest cruise missile developed in the Soviet era had only very little hit power. In the picture, a large cruise missile can be seen hitting the ground under the bridge of an artificial overpass, and at this time the pedestrians on the bridge deck, which is only about 30 meters away from the explosion center, were completely unscathed! It feels like the explosion of the huge cruise missile is basically equivalent to a large fireworks under the bridge. Afterwards, checking the actual crater, it was just a car-sized earth pit.Don’t think that only the Soviet cruise missile is not powerful enough. In fact, the American tomahawk is not powerful enough, and has been criticized by experts for many years! Because in the past, a three-story building was hit continuously,
multiple battle axes, but only a few holes were drilled out, and the small-scale building itself remained intact. The reason why cruise missiles have been setting off fireworks is that cruise missiles need to load most of the internal space of the bullet body with flying fuel and complex guidance and control systems. This caused the total weight of the warhead to be greatly compressed. For example, the launch weight of different types of Tomahawk missiles ranges from 1160 kg to 1440 kg, and the warhead weight ranges from 320 to 454 kg. The actual explosive loading capacity is only 100 to 120 kg. In contrast, a 2,000-pound laser-guided bomb is loaded with at least 380 kilograms of high explosives, which is 3 to 4 times that of ordinary tomahawks. This difference also determines that the Tomahawk missile is the most effective in the early stages of war. If a large amount of cruise missiles are spent on ordinary infrastructure, it is the stupidest tactic!
