| “ | Long range ballistics. - Tomahawk |
” |
The Tomahawk is the main artillery unit of the USA military.
Lore
| “ | Calculating missile speed. - Tomahawk |
” |
The Tomahawk missile began life as a naval-based cruise missile that could carry a wide range of warheads. By the time the US faced the GLA, it began test to deploy the Tomahawk missiles onto ground mobile platforms. This however was horrible. The missile didn't provide any benefit over the Chinese or the GLA artillery, and the cost and weakness of them made them useless. However, due to the cost of the initial project, the US defense department gave it another try.
The new version of the Tomahawk is now more mobile, more cost effective, and comes with a new fire system. In its normal mode, the missile travels fast, being able to hit the target before AA systems can shoot them down, at least when 2-3 Tomahawks are firing. This fast mode also enables the Tomahawk missile to track its target, guaranteeing a hit. In cruise mode, the missile sacrifices speed and tracking for extended range. This enables the Tomahawk to hit targets well-beyond most artillery systems, including the dreaded Russian MSTA. This range is easily countered by the fact that the missile can now be easily shot down, but the range boost is impressive.
Abilities
| Ability | Description |
|---|---|
 Ground Attack |
Order the unit to continuously attack the target area. |
 High Speed Mode |
In this mode the Tomahawk missiles fly faster, making it less vulnerable to anti-air weapons, and can track moving targets, but has shorter range. |
 Cruise Mode |
In this mode the Tomahawk missiles has longer range but flies slower, making it more vulnerable to anti-air weapons, and cannot track moving targets. |
Add-ons
| Add-on | Description |
|---|---|
 Battle Drone |
Build a Battle Drone that follows the vehicle, engaging enemies with its machine gun and repairs the vehicle when damaged. Costs $200 and takes 5 seconds to complete. Incompatible with Targeteer Drone. |
 Targeteer Drone |
Build a Targeteer Drone that follows the vehicle, extending its sight radius and increases the vehicle's rate of fire by 25% (except for Avengers, WASP Hives and Microwave Tanks). Costs $150 and takes 5 seconds to complete. Incompatible with Battle Drone. |
Overview
| “ | Preparing launch cycle! - Tomahawk |
” |
As was mentioned in the lore, the Tomahawk has been improved, with the feature of having 2 fire settings, one for rapid, guided strikes onto moving targets, and the other for long-range bombardment. This enables commanders to best employ the Tomahawk in the role they need.
The new model is also faster than it was originally, but armor stayed about the same. This means now the Tomahawk is competitive with other artillery. The Tomahawk is a precision weapon though, and so if the target is a cluster of units, you still be better off with another artillery, notably the BM-21 Grad or the Nuke Cannon. However, if the target is a moving heavy tank or a building behind a wall of defense, this is a great artillery unit.
Tactics
Unlike most artillery, the Tomahawk has a slow rate of fire and minimal blast radius. It makes up for this by being able to track targets or by being able to hit targets well beyond the range of most artillery. Therefore, the tactics will be focused on its firing mode.
Guided mode should be used as a tank hunter. Its guided missiles and short travel time enables you to pound heavy tanks with missiles before they become a threat to your forces. Also, you can use them to neutralize AA systems that might counter your aircraft or helicopters. In this mode, you only need 2-3 Tomahawk missile launchers to have them past AA systems. The best strategic tactical buff would be damage, to get the most punch with each missile.
In cruise mode however, the objective of your Tomahawk launcher changes. Instead of tank killing and AA suppression, the role changes to long-range bombardment, similar in theory to strategic bombing. The goal is to overwhelm AA systems and damage the enemy's base, focusing on power systems, tech buildings, Command Centers and other major structures. To ensure this, get the strategic buff to range, to give your missiles the longest range of any artillery in-game, but sacrifices speed as a consequence. Getting them close to the enemy's base will mean getting armored units or attack helicopters to protect them, but the bombardment will slowly crack the enemy's defenses. To ensure your missiles make it through, have about 9-12 Tomahawk Launchers bombarding the enemy's base, as anti missile defenses have more time to shoot them down.
Counters
Like most artillery, you can counter the Tomahawk Missile Launcher by using attack helicopters or aircraft. Another solution however is to simply build enough AA systems to shoot down the incoming missiles. This renders them mute, however, they could simply build more, so plan on having a limit of AA systems before you decide to go after the launchers and not the missiles.
Best units for killing Tomahawks would be gunships (Such as Tigers, Hinds, Hans, etc.) as they can damage the Tomahawk before it can retreat to safety.
With GLA you could use camouflage and send them Tunnel Defenders and/or Combat Cycles, or just do Grads and Rocket Buggies.
Quotes
The Tomahawk reuses their original voiceset in the vanilla Generals and Zero Hour.
Gallery
