AllTop Viral!

The most viral news stories that you need to know about.

F-18 follows a Tomahawk missile until it hits its target [video]

Posted by / February 1, 2016

Usually missiles chase jets, but in this case it’s the other way around. An F-18 fighter jet chases a Tomahawk missile from its launch until it strikes a target ship in the ocean.

Full story at YouTube.

More great aviation.

Comments are off for this post.

  • sumner seguin

    i thought it would explode on contact.. bob

  • 2:36…now that’s an expensive bird kill

  • Don

    I know that it didn’t have a warhead because they were testing it’s tracking and engine. I do think it should have hit lower on the ship to get a more destructive hit. Son of a gun was bad ass though!!

  • Rickjs

    if it did explode you would take a chance on damaging or even sinking the ship. That would just add another couple million they would have to spend for a training exercise. Probably explodes after it goes through the containers so that it can’t be salvaged by those damn Russkies

  • The picture of the aircraft you are showing is not an F/A18 but an F-14 Tomcat. Please get your facts straight if you want to be considered an accurate and factual journalist. Do the research folks!

  • danh

    No war head, dummy missle?

  • The aircraft in the phot is an F-14 Tomcat, NOT and F/A-18 Hornet- – – BIG difference there. Some one needs a quick course in aircraft ID.

  • Bo

    @ Summer: They didn’t have a bomb in this one- just fuel. They only do live shots on occasion, and many of the test launches are recovered so the missile can be reused. They remove the part that would hold the bomb and put a “REM’ section in that holds a ~90 foot parachute.

  • apparently it wasn’t armed…and the birds knew something was coming, nice knowing they survived.

  • This video is as old as dirt. Jesus made it when he was a Private. Yawn. Author should be fired. Weak sauce.

  • John

    Similar with torpedo training on subs. There are no high explosives in a target missile.

  • WENT RIGHT THRU AND ALL THAT FOR A HOLE AT WHAT COST 540,000 EACH.

  • Sir, Bird is down, I repeat 1 of the 2 birds is down!

  • doug

    basically a miss..ship has zero damage..contaner means nothing…half million dollar missle sould have went through the hull and sink it…

  • Was just a dummy warhead made for training purposes.

  • Tad Pole

    That video was useless, big deal. In one shot it looked like it went through the cargo container in another it looked as if it was fired from a cargo container. The only thing serious that I noticed was 2 very upset sea gulls.

  • I’d like to see the Classified Shot of the new Cruise missile carrying a new type of high speed Cruise Missile launched Torpedo. The missile drops the torpedo at between 15 and 5 miles out for the “Double Hammer” effect!

  • If you look at the picture before the video it is an F14!

  • Doug H

    watched to see a blow up of object buuuuuut heck stupid video

  • charliehorse

    No warhead. Practice dummy. Targeting exercise. I thought it would hit lower, like on the hull. Altitude was likely also planned. Why waste a ship?

  • harry jallz

    Actually, the chase plane in the video is an F/A-18, so they got that right. The plane in the video still is an F-14. Still, a bit misleading…

  • Rich

    thanks for the note about the pigeons

  • Bill Sheppard

    It is a target practice missile. No warhead on it.

  • ITs called free speach

    the first ship to ship T-hawk was launched by the USS Merrill DD976 circa 1984……

  • Ah –duh? Can any one explain the Russian Captions at the top of the second photo?

    Is it possible the Rusky’s are running the show?? We are toast!!!!!!!!!!!

  • @BRAIN D. EDWARDS SR.–I guess you didn’t watch the whole video or missed the part that said, “the birds survived”. I was surprised the birds reacted as fast as the did and took fight before the missile hit the storage container.

  • There are no ordnance on that missile. That’s why it did not explode.

  • bill drew

    no big deal- tomahawks don’t fly all that fast

  • No warhead…that was the extra fuel in the rocket motor igniting, not a warhead detonation

  • frank

    so what did it cost to kill those 2 birds? Actually, i think one of them made it.

  • So if the target ship isn’t at least 3 containers high above the upper deck the f’kin thing would have missed totally. Thank god all of our potential enemies always carry stacks of containers 3 high on their littoral vessels.

  • Ryan MacDonald

    Now I am not an expert on modern military tactics, but what is the tactical significance/reason that a jet should chase a missile?

  • Rick

    Uh, wouldn’t hitting the ship be a better idea?

  • C’mon people, this nuclear capable missile had no warhead. and hit a moving target under power. So programming the missile to strike the ship and sink it, instead of the shipping containers, would be environmentally stupid. Successful test!

  • C’mon people, this nuclear capable missile had no warhead. and hit a moving target under power. So programming the missile to strike the ship, instead of the shipping containers and sink it, would be environmentally stupid. Successful test!

  • Russians already posted that video online lol

  • In the voice of Butthead (from “Beavis and Butthead”) .. “This is the coolest thing I have ever seen.”

  • Willia

    Hooray! Raytheon Corporation makes another million bucks! Go, go, go Military Industrial Complex

  • passin thru

    @Jon K – you are correct – this is a REALLY old video of a TASM (Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile) test shot (no warhead, “deco” paint rather than grey, etc). TASMs were phased out decades ago.

    @Bill Drew: 600mph is high sub-sonic, still pretty quick…

    @Kermit Montz: rocket motor is separated within 30 seconds, the missile then runs on a turbofan engine. It’s the jet fuel for that engine that ignites in the video.

  • Classified

    WOW that’s a super video.
    Glad to hear that the pigeons survived.

  • passin thru

    @BO – mostly correct, but REMs are only used on non-hit, land attack tests.

    @JON K – correct: this is a REALLY old video of a TASM (Tomahawk Anti-Ship Missile) test shot. No warhead, “deco” paint versus grey. They stopped making TASMs decades ago, and converted all the existing ones to TLAMs (Land-Attack).

    @Doug – as noted above, TASMs were phased out long ago. CHARLIEHORSE is correct: Actual attack profiles would have the missile coming in much lower, or pop-up to dive into the ship.

    @Bill Drew – Tomahawks are high sub-sonic capable = 600-700mph, still pretty quick in my book

    @Juan Wasner – TASMs were never nuclear capable. The Russians did have a shorter range nuclear anti-ship missile, though…

  • Zspoiler

    I remember the Tomahawk Cruise missile test during the early eighties When I temporally stationed on San Clemete Island while in the Marine Corps to rebuild the roads ,We watched them set up the targets ( an Navy bunker ,and a Navy A-5 Vigilante used during the Vietnam War) The first one used a “shape Charge” and the second one used a bomblet type warhead. and there wasn`t much of either left.I believe at that time the used an F-4j or N Phamton as a chase plane.for filming and for just in case it went afoul. I believe the test can still be found online because saw it later on one of the Discovery Channels.

  • You can expect a bunch of damaged goods on the shelves at Walmart in a few weeks.

  • Sir PJ

    The point: took a missile, no modifications, no seeker, targeted with external existing comms and can strike moving target over 1000NM away. The chase plane is simply that — there for safety to shoot down if the missile goes outside the planned objectives. Not controlling it. Now, how’d they target it — that’s the key advancement. And how many normal TLAM exist today — shit tons.

  • I think istead of stickin on tomahawk for 100 year US army should find for something new. What is the role of following a missile if you are sure what you are targetting is precise?

  • Manny

    Just think. Maybe this author owns Boeing stock. That’s why he couldn’t identify and F-18 from an F-14 (the latter being IMHO was a better fighter)

  • This is great video collection of missiles, thanks for sharing these type of article.. please keep it up.

  • Average Human

    My head hurts ready these post…,,