The US Navy (USN) has tested the new Block III Virginia Payload Tube on the Virginia-class submarine USS North Dakota (SSN-784), firing two Tomahawk cruise missiles in the Gulf of Mexico. The test fire was the first demonstration of the submarine's potential to load, carry and vertically launch Tomahawk missiles from the submarine. The service is also working on enabling the submarines to carry three times the number of Tomahawk missiles that the vessels can currently carry. The manufacturer of Tomahawks, Raytheon, continues to modernise the missiles under USN's submarine modernization programme.

USN will continue the modernisation of the Tomahawk Block IV missiles’ communications and navigation capabilities and the upgraded Tomahawks are planned to be deployed by 2019.