Q&A · 4:48:23-4:50:05

Could British submarines carry Tomahawk in time for 1982?

Getting submarine-launched Tomahawk into the hypothetical fleet requires changing American weapon schedules and British submarine planning together.

Question

Would nuclear-powered attack submarines with land-attack Tomahawk be useful in the Falklands scenario?

Short answer

They would add strike capability, but the scenario must accelerate both the missile and its integration into a suitable British submarine.

Notes

The discussion places submarine-launched Tomahawk's service entry in 1983, just after the war assumed by the scenario. It would therefore require earlier American delivery as well as British integration. Trafalgar's 1983 entry is also too late, leading to the Swiftsure class as the preferred earlier candidate. The participants doubt that fitting it to the Churchill class would be practical. They consequently trace the requirement back toward planning for a viable submarine-launched cruise missile in the late 1960s. Whether that effort is justified depends on what the weapon could add without widening the war.