When I read as a young man The last of the Mohicans, published in 1826, I learned of the tomahawk which, at the time in which the novel is set, were already formidable weapons. Obviously, I am not referring to the missiles, coveted by the Ukrainians and worrying to the Russians, but to the war axes used by the natives of North America.
In the novel, James Fenimore Cooper tells an episode of the so-called French and Indian War. Contextualized in the scenes of the Seven Years’ War (1754-1763) between England and France, who fought against each other for the North American colonies.
For their purposes, both parties deceived and used aborigines whom they then dominated and exploited and who, at times, rebelled and confronted the colonizers, as occurred in the so-called French and Indian War.
Tomahawk, in the language of the aborigines, meant to knock down, which they apparently achieved with that device, originally a tool for hunting. The natives who did not know metals made them with flakes of stone or bone, deer antlers or buffalo horns, which they fixed with leather strips to a wooden handle.
In addition to striking, the weapon was used to cut and hit and was also thrown. The colonizers who adopted them made them of iron, steel or copper.
The missile
The Tomahawk subsonic missile is a strike weapon capable of carrying nuclear charges. It was introduced in 1991 and has undergone numerous modernizations. The standard version is 6.1 meters long, 2.6 meters wide and weighs about 1500 kilograms.
It operates from land, ships, submarines or airplanes, with a range of 1,600 km, ideal for carrying out precision attacks against static or moving targets deep in enemy territory.
Although it is neither invisible nor hypersonic, certain features, including low-altitude flight, even 30 meters above the ground, adapting to the relief of the terrain, allow it to reasonably evade anti-aircraft fire. The cost per unit is close to a million and a half dollars.
In addition to the United States, the United Kingdom owns them. They have recently been used against the Houthis in Yemen and against Iran’s nuclear facilities during the 12-day war.
Although effective, the Tomahawk, which has been in the arsenal of the United States Army and Navy for 35 years, during which stocks of several thousand have accumulated, is no longer a decisive weapon.
Delivering some to Ukraine is not a sacrifice for the Pentagon, and Russia is concerned.
The possibility that the United States would give such a weapon to Ukraine, which could thus reach the depths of Russian territory, has stirred controversy and provoked all kinds of analysis and comments.
Apparently, the president Trump has postponed the deliveryfocusing on putting pressure on the parties to stop trying to win the hard way and end a conflict that should never have started. If this does not happen, the tomahawks will probably fly. See you there.
Trump announces meeting with Putin in Budapest to continue seeking an end to the war in Ukraine
*This text was originally published in the newspaper For this! It is reproduced with the express authorization of its author.
