Armored Box Launcher



The Armored Box Launcher (ABL) is a four-round protected launch container for the BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise Missile.

Fitted to the Iowa-class battleships following their 1980s recommissioning upgrade, each ABL contains four ready-to-fire Tomahawks. The use of ABL ' s on these vessels rather than a non-armored solution was necessitated to enable the battleships to continue to exploit the capability provided by their heavy armor and reduce the vulnerability of the delicate missiles within. Eight ABL ' s were fitted to each of the four recommissioned battleships, providing 32 weapons to each ship. Some of the original dual 5 inch (127 mm) gun mounts were removed to fit the ABL ' s and the launchers are visible at right.

Aside from being fitted on to the United States Navy ' s Iowa-class battleships, this system was also fitted on the nuclear powered cruisers, including the Long Beach and the Virginia-class as well as some Spruance-class destroyers. The cruisers and destroyers were fitted with two ABLs each for a total of 8 missiles.

Since then the Armored Box Launcher missile system has been phased out in favor of the more flexible, larger capacity Vertical Launching System (VLS). Some of the Spruance-class ships formerly fitted with ABL ' s were later refitted with VLS.

The Armored Box Launcher shares one common handicap with the Vertical Launching System: It can not be reloaded at sea. The ship in question must return to port in order to receive and load her ABLs.

صندوق إطلاق مدرع Armored Box Launcher 装甲ボックスランチャー