Did you all know that each Tomahawk missile contains (and, when used, destroys) five hundred ounces of silver (needed for its high electrical conductivity)? So far, since the start of Obama's war in Libya, they've destroyed three tons of silver over there in launched Tomahawks. Gone for good. Got to be good for the future price of silver.

I guess we could burn them at the stake and use dollar bills as kindling. Would be cheaper, but slower.

Thirty-one POUNDS of silver per missile? Without a reliable source documenting that claim, I have to throw the penalty flag.

Silver solder maybe but not pure silver!!!

Even if it did, it's only a drop in the bucket ($18,850) out of the $575,000.00 cost of a Tomahawk.

X 119 = I don't even want to know....

I'm heading to Africa so if anyone has a spare Tomahawk,send it my way.

Back in the day when were planning Desert Storm TLAMS were a million a pop. See what happens when you buy in volume!

A liberal crappola news report I read yesterday claimed that the Tomahawk uses a depleted uranium warhead, as do many of the bombs being used. Complete and utter BS.

I am certain that a Tomahawk missile does not use 500 oz. of silver, but silver is an excellent conductor of electricity.

In the early 1970's, I toured a Western Electric Company laboratory (AT&T R&D) that was developing the computer for controlling the Nike Zeus anti-missile system. The computer took up an entire room and was a miracle to behold. Each circuit board was shock mounted to the frame, the frame was shock mounted to the floor, and the floor was shock mounted to the foundation, which in turn was shock mounted into bedrock. All this to withstand a near nuclear explosion.

For cooling, the vertical and horizontal frames were hollow and a liquid coolant was circulated to carry off the heat and there was a large heat exchanger outside the facility.

The system worked on low voltage (24 volts if I recall correctly). This required high amperage for the amount of wattage needed. To carry the high amperage (at the low voltage), solid silver bus bars ran overhead. There was no insulation on the bars so I was cautioned not to touch anything. These bars were each about 8" X 8" and 30 feet long - lot's of expensive silver!

At the time I was sworn to secrecy, but now that 40 years have passed, I don't think anyone cares. Certainly today's PC's have more computing capacity than this dinosaur!

I'd forgotten about this until the reference to the Tomahawk's use of silver was mentioned.

Will it fit through the TSA X-Ray machine?

Rocky - I have been out of the loop in this area for a number of years, so I do not know what the current situation is, but depleted uranium was at one time tested in the nose of a Tomahawk to aid penetration of hard targets before the explosive warhead exploded.

I do not know whether it was ever adopted, but it was tested.

Nope - may have been tested but the TLAM comes in a submunition dispenser (area denial) - A solid warhead (conventional) and of course the crowd pleasing portable sun variant with the W-80 warhead. I know of at least one other special payload it has carried but I see no reference to it on the web so I won't discuss it but it wasn't DU.

Skin effect conductors plated millimeters - perhaps micrometers - thick. Not solid bars.

I heard it from two sources, but it could well be BS. Seems like a lot of silver.

Not to mention I know it is used in the 20mm shells of the CIWS system aka Phalanx. Armor piercing properties are the reason.

I was for a while, (~18 years ago) slightly involved in making the fin deployment spring for the Harpoon missile - which is a fairly large coil spring made of titanium. It was a fun job. Now I just make stuff for oil wells. It would be fun to do missile springs again.

Hawk, what were those sources?

I'd like to know - what they are spouting is outrageous.

Think about how many circuit boards or discrete wires/conductors could be made and not equal the weight you've quoted.

I'm sure the power requirements for the actual physical control surfaces are significant, but the actual conductor weights involved are probably more like 1/100th of the fig quoted. And probably copper, besides.

Battery + conductors + motor/servo weight might equal
the amount quoted. Throw in a bit of mechanical linkage to even things out.

It was the 30mm used in the A10 that had depleted uranium slugs. At least during the "Storm"

The company I worked for in the 20th Century made the material for the wing deployment springs on the sea going Tomahawks.
Each missile had two flat springs made out of MP35N
( multi- phase molybdenum 35% nickle )


Pure sliver would have been a bargin in comparison!
Hell pure platinum would be too.

Like any other gub'ment project ....million dollar hammer or billion $ toilet seat... it could have been done easier and much cheaper.
But it kept me gainfully employed and fed and clothed my kids.

I say throw them at the sand Ni@#ers and make more.
Just keep our people at a safe distance

Wrong. Unit cost: $1,066,465 (Block IV Variant, FY11 $)
Source: Wikipedia

I worked on the Tomahawk RLG guidance system.

At 24 (28?) volts it was probably a DC bus so no skin effect. I used to have some plug-ins for old tube-type computers, functionally equivalent to a maybe six transistor circuit. And now you get millions of transistors on a chip. Those old machines were a marvel to behold, including the massive amounts of power consumed for what are now trivial operations.

Wait....

You mean that Turdeye's "Prison Planet" info was ... wrong?

Naw..... perish the thought....

" Like any other gub'ment project ....million dollar hammer or billion $ toilet seat... it could have been done easier and much cheaper."

I can relate,......When I was jobbing for TRW on the Hunter UAV,....a goofy latch that held a Shelter goor halfway open on a dirty Humvee would be specced to be spooled up out of 17-4 PH, and passivated,......when cold rolled and krylon would have been overkill.

Nickin' Phuts, the way those idiots burn our capital on nonsense.

GTC

It's the irradiated milk

Safer than the flouridated water.

Unless you send your kids to school wearing tinfoil hats...