Tomahawk warheads: U.S. Navy opens a 300-gallon mixer at China Lake to build up production

The U.S. Navy is building up its own capacity to load Tomahawk warheads. On Nov. 9, the Naval Air Warfare Center Weapons Division (NAWCWD) cut the ribbon on a new 300-gallon mixer at its China Lake site in California, the step the command says will let its energetics team reach production rate once the machine comes online around June 2027.

The aim, according to the U.S. Navy account of the ceremony, is to have warheads ready before Raytheon needs them, so that deliveries of the missile to the fleet stay continuous and on time.

From a museum piece to seven first-article warheads

A year ago the team pulled a Tomahawk warhead case out of a museum, cleaned it, mixed PBXN-107 explosive and filled a WDU-36/B warhead. Testing, imaging and X-rays confirmed the fill was correct. This autumn the same team filled seven first-article warheads, the first units a new producer builds for inspection. If they pass, they become China Lake’s first production warheads, said Zane Goedert, head of the Energetics Processing Branch.

Those rounds came off a 150-gallon mixer that China Lake has run for decades. The new 300-gallon machine, built by B&P Littleford, sits in the rebuilt Motor Assembly Compound at the China Lake Propulsion Laboratory.

Why the Navy wants more capacity

In August the Navy awarded Raytheon a $22.9 billion contract to accelerate Tomahawk production, and faster production calls for more warhead capacity, said Ryan Hunter, head of the Propulsion and Energetics Division. Raytheon builds the missile as prime contractor, General Dynamics Ordnance and Tactical Systems machines the warhead cases, and L3Harris loads them with explosive today. Naval Surface Warfare Center Indian Head Division in Maryland was also named as able to do the work.

Patricia Hottowe, director of the Tomahawk Technical Project Office at NAWCWD, said the missile lets ships and submarines fire from safe waters, out of an enemy’s range. “Having an adequate stockpile of those for a peer or near-peer adversary is critical to the nation’s defense,” she said.

In September, L3Harris and NAWCWD signed a multiyear public-private partnership to manufacture missile components. Under it, Hunter said, NAWCWD plans to produce a portion of the Tomahawk warheads. Rear Adm. Eric Gardner, principal deputy for the Portfolio Acquisition Executive Munitions, said at the ceremony that the first-article warheads lay the groundwork for China Lake to become an additional source of Tomahawk warhead production.

Specification, suppliers and people

Hottowe said the team spent much of the past year updating the warhead specification, which the demonstration build showed needed a major revision, and the approved supplier list. The Navy’s technical authority must approve each new supplier, and every future producer, Navy or industry, must build to the updated specification. Key parts and materials can take up to a year to arrive, so NAWCWD also bought long-lead materials ahead of the multiyear contract.

Staffing is changing as well. More than a dozen new hires are joining the team and will train under experienced technicians for about a year before working on their own. Goedert said loading the warhead is the easiest part, while buying materials, bringing on people and getting answers are harder.

A faster layout

The compound was designed to cut handling. Today crews mix in one building and cast in another about half a mile away; in the new bay the roughly 20,000-pound bowl will move across the room into a lift, cutting an hourlong move to 15 minutes. Because the explosives begin to set once mixed, the change gives back about 45 minutes of a casting window that runs from a couple of hours to eight or nine hours depending on the mix.

The newest buildings grew out of a rebuild after the July 2019 earthquakes destroyed three energetics compounds in the Salt Wells area. NAWCWD Executive Director Dan Carreño described the operation as a pilot plant that will keep doing developmental testing and, when industry needs it, can “go augment.”

The Tomahawk has featured in earlier Geopolitiki reporting, including USS Abraham Lincoln: 450 Tomahawks and 3,693 sorties in the Iran war, homecoming after a record stretch at sea.