Tomahawk cruise missiles have alarmingly high failure rate

In the week following the Tomahawk missile strikes that the United States carried out on training camps of the ISIS-aligned Islamic State-Sahel Province (ISSP) Lakurawa terror group, local residents have found four unexploded warheads.

U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) did not report the total number of Tomahawks used, but based on the ships involved, estimates range from 12 to 16. Analysts said the 25% to 33% failure rate is “alarming.”

Wreckage from one Tomahawk, with its warhead still intact, was found in the Kawara state, near the city of Offa. A second warhead was found on the same day, about 25 kilometers north of Offa. A third warhead was discovered on a farm in Sokoto state, and on Tuesday, a fourth was found in Niger state. It is unclear why the Tomahawks malfunctioned in flight.

The U.S. has approximately 4,000 Tomahawks in inventory, with the Block I cruise missiles entering service in 1983. It has undergone five major upgrades, including Block V, which entered service in 2021, featuring upgraded navigation systems, an anti-ship variant, and a bunker-buster version with a joint multi-effects warhead.

The Tomahawk is the de facto leader in subsonic terrain-following cruise missiles, known for its high success rate and accuracy. None of the photos showing the missile debris provided enough information to determine a manufacturing date.

The Christmas Day U.S. missile strike targeted ISSP Lakurawa terrorist sites in the Sokoto region due to repeated attacks and massacres targeting Christians. A month before the attacks, U.S. President Donald Trump’s spiritual advisor, Pastor Mark Burns, noted that Lakurawa was also attacking Muslims. “Christians are dying at an alarming rate in Nigeria,” Burns said, “They are being targeted by extremist Islamic groups. But Muslims, however little, are dying too at the hands of these same terrorists.”

Since taking office on January 20, 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump has ordered at least 626 airstrikes around the world, according to data from the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project. That has included hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles used to strike targets in Yemen, Iran, Somalia, and Syria. At the end of December, the Pentagon boosted an earlier order for Block V cruise missiles from 131 to 350. This is in addition to a U.S. Navy order for 837 Maritime Strike Tomahawks submitted in October 2025.

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