guided missile destroyers to the Black Sea as “Operation Resolve Expands” on land and sea.
Under the containment policies of the U.S. and NATO, the U.S. Army Europe began training in Romania and Bulgaria on March 24. The 173rd Airborne Brigade jumped into Smardan Training Area, Romania, for a combined, multinational training exercise with Romanian allies.
In April 2015, the U.S. Navy ordered the USS JASON DUNHAM a Norfolk Virginia based ARLEIGH BURKE Flight IIA guided missile destroyer to the Black Sea. The USS JASON DUNHAM carries several of the Raytheon Tomahawk ASM/LAM cruise missiles. The ship was named for Corporal Jason L. Dunham. On April 14, 2004, Corporal Dunham was manning a checkpoint in Karabilah, Iraq, when an insurgent leapt from his car and began choking Corporal Dunham. A scuffle ensued as two Marines approached to help. Reportedly, the last words from Corporal Dunham were, “No, No. Watch his hand.” Suddenly, the insurgent dropped a grenade. Corporal Dunham took off his Kevlar helmet, dropped to the ground, and covered the explosive as best he could.
According to Pentagon reports and Raytheon, “the Tomahawk missile family consists of a number of subsonic, jet engine-powered missiles designed to attack a variety of surface targets. Although a number of launch platforms have been deployed or envisaged, only sea (both surface ship and submarine) launched variants are currently in service. Tomahawk has a modular design, allowing a wide variety of warhead, guidance, and range capabilities.A major improvement to the Tomahawk is network-centric warfare-capabilities, using data from multiple sensors (aircraft, UAVs, satellites, foot soldiers, tanks, ships) to find its target. It will also be able to send data from its sensors to these platforms. It will be a part of the networked force being implemented by the Pentagon. In 2012, the USN studied applying Advanced Anti-Radiation Guided Missile (AARGM) technology into the Tactical Tomahawk. In February 2014, the U.S. Navy began working on a bunker-busting warhead for the Tomahawk. Called the Joint Multi-Effects Warhead System (JMEWS), it would weigh 3,500 lb (1,600 kg) and be compatible with existing Block IV missiles.
