, on display at the
Museum of Aviation in Belgrade, Serbia.
United States Air Force The Air Force is a former operator of the nuclear-armed version of the Tomahawk, the
BGM-109G Gryphon.
Army In November 2020, the
United States Army selected the Tomahawk to fulfill its
Mid-Range Capability (MRC), giving it a land-based long-range missile capable of striking ground and sea targets. The Army plans to use the Tomahawk alongside a ground-based
SM-6 and field them by late 2023.
Marines In May 2022 the Defense Department announced a contract to buy Tomahawk missiles for the Navy, the Army, and the Marine Corps.
Navy • In the 1991
Gulf War, 288 Tomahawks were launched, 12 from submarines and 276 from surface ships. The first salvo was fired by the destroyer on 17 January 1991. The attack submarines and followed. • 17 January 1993:
46 Tomahawks were fired at the Zafraniyah Nuclear Fabrication Facility outside
Baghdad, in response to Iraq's refusal to cooperate with UN disarmament inspectors. • 26 June 1993:
23 Tomahawks were fired at the Iraqi Intelligence Service's command and control center. • 10 September 1995: launched 13 Tomahawk missiles from the central Adriatic Sea against a key air defense radio relay tower in Bosnian Serb territory during
Operation Deliberate Force. • 3 September 1996: 44 ship-launched UGM-109 and B-52-launched AGM-86 cruise missiles
were fired at air defense targets in southern Iraq. • 20 August 1998:
79 Tomahawk missiles were fired simultaneously at two targets in Afghanistan and Sudan in retaliation for the
bombings of American embassies by
Al-Qaeda. • 16 December 1998: 325 Tomahawk missiles were fired at key Iraqi targets during
Operation Desert Fox. • In early 1999, 218 Tomahawk missiles were fired by US ships and a British submarine during the
1999 NATO bombing of Yugoslavia against targets in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. • October 2001: about 50 Tomahawk missiles struck targets in Afghanistan in the opening hours of
Operation Enduring Freedom. • During the
2003 invasion of Iraq, more than 802 Tomahawk missiles were fired at key Iraqi targets. • 3 March 2008: two Tomahawk missiles were fired at a target in Somalia by a US vessel during the
Dobley airstrike, reportedly in an attempt to kill
Saleh Ali Saleh Nabhan, an al Qaeda militant. • 17 December 2009: two Tomahawk missiles were fired at targets in Yemen. One TLAM-D struck an Al-Qaeda training camp in
al-Ma'jalah in al-Mahfad, a region of the Abyan governorate of
Yemen. • 19 March 2011: 124 Tomahawk missiles
were fired by US and British forces (112 US, 12 British) against at least 20
Libyan targets around
Tripoli and
Misrata. As of 22 March 2011, 159 UGM-109 were fired by US and UK ships against Libyan targets. • 23 September 2014: 47 Tomahawk missiles
were fired by the United States from and , which were operating from international waters in the Red Sea and Persian Gulf, against
ISIL targets in Syria in the vicinity of
Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, Al-Hasakah and Abu Kamal, and against
Khorasan group targets in Syria west of Aleppo. • 13 October 2016: five Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched by at three radar sites in Yemen held by
Houthi rebels in response to
anti-ship missiles fired at US Navy ships the day before. • On 6 April 2017, 59 Tomahawk missiles
were launched from and , targeting
Shayrat Airbase near
Homs, in Syria. The strike was in response to
Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, an act carried out by Syrian President
Bashar al-Assad.
US Central Command stated in a press release that Tomahawk missiles hit "aircraft, hardened aircraft shelters, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, defense systems, and radars". Initial US reports claimed "approximately 20 planes" were destroyed, and that 58 out of the 59 cruise missiles launched had "severely degraded or destroyed" their intended target. • On 14 April 2018, the US launched 66 Tomahawk cruise missiles at Syrian targets near Damascus and Homs, as part of the
April 2018 missile strikes against Syria. These strikes were carried out as retaliation for the
Douma chemical attack. The
United States Department of Defense said Syria fired 40 defensive missiles at the allied weapons but did not hit any targets. The Russian military said that Syrian air defenses shot down 71 of the 103 missiles launched by the US and its allies, but it was not possible to verify the claims. • On 11 January 2024, US officials stated that over 80 Tomahawk cruise missile
were launched by , , , and . According to US officials these strikes targeted Houthi assets including command and control nodes, munitions, depots, launching systems, production facilities, and air defense radar systems these were then followed up by attacks from aircraft launched from the carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. These strikes came in response to Houthi attacks on civilian vessels transiting the
Red Sea and failure to abide by repeated warnings from western officials. With strikes continuing in the following months, this number had increased to 135 missiles by 24 July 2024. on 28 February 2026 • On 21 June 2025, a US official stated that submarines fired 30 TLAM cruise missiles at Iranian nuclear sites in
Natanz and
Isfahan as part of a larger set of
American strikes on Iranian nuclear sites. • On 25 December 2025,
more than a dozen Tomahawk missiles were launched targeting the
Islamic State – West Africa Province in Northwestern Nigeria from a warship in the Gulf of Guinea. • Beginning on 28 February 2026, the United States fired over 850 Tomahawk cruise missiles over two weeks as part of
Operation Epic Fury, a large-scale joint US-Israeli military operation against Iran. The missiles struck hundreds of targets across Iran, targeting air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, and command-and-control facilities. The strikes included at least one Tomahawk variant with a black, presumably low-observable paint scheme and forward-swept wings, believed by some analysts to be the Maritime Strike Tomahawk variant. According to open-source investigations by
Bellingcat, a US Tomahawk cruise missile
struck the Shajarah Tayyebeh elementary school in Minab, Iran, on February 28, 2026, during Operation Epic Fury. Iranian authorities reported at least 175 casualties, the majority of them children, and Tomahawk missile remnants were recovered from the school site. The
Kosovo War in 1999 saw the Swiftsure-class
HMS Splendid become the first British submarine to fire the Tomahawk in combat. The UK subsequently bought 20 more Block III to replenish stocks. The Royal Navy has since fired Tomahawks during the 2000s Afghanistan War, in
Operation Telic as the British contribution to the 2003
Iraq War, and during
Operation Ellamy in Libya in 2011. In April 2004, the UK and US governments reached an agreement for the British to buy 64 of the new generation of Tomahawk missile—the Block IV or
TacTom missile. It entered service with the Royal Navy on 27 March 2008, three months ahead of schedule. In July 2014 the US approved the sale to the UK of a further 65 submarine-launched Block IV's at a cost of US$140m including spares and support; the Block III missiles were on British books at £1.1m and the Block IV at £0.87m including VAT. The
Sylver Vertical Launching System on the new
Type 45 destroyer is claimed by its manufacturers to have the capability to fire the Tomahawk, although the A50 launcher carried by the Type 45 is too short for the weapon (the longer A70 silo would be required). Nevertheless, the Type 45 has been designed with weight and space margin for a strike-length Mk41 or Sylver A70 silo to be retrofitted, allowing Type 45 to use the TLAM Block IV if required. Both the new
Type 26 frigates and the
Type 31 frigate will be filled with strike-length Mk41 VLS. In June 2022, the UK announced it would be upgrading its Tomahawk cruise missiles to Block V standard through a £265 million contract with the US government. The missiles will be upgraded from 2024.
Australia In September 2021,
Australian Prime Minister
Scott Morrison announced that Australia would acquire Tomahawks for the
Royal Australian Navy's (RAN)
Hobart-class air warfare destroyers. In March 2023, the US
State Department approved a
Foreign Military Sale to Australia of up 200 Block V and up to 20 Block IV missiles worth an estimated US$895 million. In January 2024, the US State Department approved the sale of support equipment worth US$250 million. In December 2024, Australia's
Minister for Defence said the RAN had successfully fired its first ever Tomahawk missile. The missile was fired from , a
Hobart-class air warfare destroyer, making Australia the third nation, after the United States and UK, to acquire and fire the weapon.
Japan The
Japanese government is negotiating with the
US government to purchase US-made Tomahawk cruise missiles for attacking enemy bases and counterattack purposes. The Japanese government decided to purchase the Tomahawk cruise missile before their domestic improved range "Type 12 surface-to-ship missile" start full-scale operation. Former Prime Minister
Fumio Kishida announced Japan will be buying 400 Tomahawk missiles. They will be deployed in fiscal year 2026-27 and will serve as a bridge until the deployment of indigenous missiles like the extended range
Type 12 surface-to-ship missile and the
Hyper Velocity Gliding Projectile. The
United States Defense Security and Cooperation Agency announced on 17 November 2023, that the US State Department had approved a possible sale of up to 200 RGM-109E
Tomahawk Block IV and up to 200 RGM-109E
Tomahawk Block V LACMs to Japan for an estimated US$2.35 billion.
Netherlands After initial interest and planning (2005), the Dutch Ministry of Defence in 2023 confirmed ordering the ship launched- and submarine launched versions of the Tomahawk to be installed on both existing as well as future frigates & submarines. In 2022 plans for acquiring long-range and precision-guided weapon systems for the frigates and submarines of
The Royal Netherlands Navy were announced as part of the Strategic Defence Review 2022, Tomahawk was identified. In March 2023, the commander of the Royal Netherlands Navy announced that the project to acquire maritime strike capability had been approved by the Ministry of Defence, and would include both the
De Zeven Provinciën-class frigates and the
Walrus-class submarines. While initially no announcement on missile type was made, the Tomahawk was confirmed as the frigates and submarines are equipped with US-standard Mark 41 Vertical Launching System, and torpedo tubes suited for launching UGM-109 Tomahawk respectively. In April 2023, the Netherlands Ministry of Defence announced the procurement of Tomahawk missiles. On 11 March 2025, the air defense and command frigate HNLMS
De Ruyter launched a Tomahawk missile for the first time. This took place off the coast of Norfolk, United States. It was the first time a Dutch naval ship fired this type of missile. ==Potential operators==