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WASHINGTON: The Tomahawk cruise missile has been in the US military’s inventory since the 1980s. While slow by missile standards, the cruise missile flies around 100 feet  off the ground, making it harder to detect by defense systems.
The missile also boasts an impressive range of around 1,000 miles and precision guidance systems that make it the go-to weapon for striking targets that are deep inland or in hostile territory. President Donald Trump has hinted that he might give Tomahawks to Ukraine, which could make a key difference for Kyiv in its war with Moscow.
Last year, The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank based in Washington, estimated that the Navy had roughly 4,000 Tomahawk missiles in its inventory in 2023. However, they noted that this estimate would have predated the significant military action against Houthi rebels in Yemen.
In defending from Houthi attacks and launching counterattacks, the Navy said ships from the Eisenhower Carrier Strike group launched 135 Tomahawk missiles. That figure has likely only grown after the strike group returned home in the summer of 2024 since Trump ordered a month-long campaign of strikes against the group in the spring of 2025.
Meanwhile, the US Navy has not been ordering many new Tomahawk missiles. Pentagon budget documents show that in 2023 the Navy and Marine Corps only bought 68 new missiles. The most recent budget documents show the Navy hadn’t purchased any new missiles in the following years and the Marine Corps only bought 22 missiles last year. Neither the Marines nor the Navy requested to buy any new Tomahawk missiles in the latest budget.
Aside from dwindling stocks, several defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to more candidly discuss military policy also expressed skepticism about offering the missile to Ukraine because of questions about how it would be employed.
While the United States launched Tomahawk missiles almost exclusively from ships or submarines, Ukraine doesn’t possess a Navy with ships capable of carrying the 20-foot-long missile. The US Army has been developing a platform to launch the missile from the ground, but one official said that the capability was still far from ready, even for US forces.

BOSTON: The value of Harvard University’s endowment, the world’s largest among universities, grew by nearly $4 billion to $56.9 billion in fiscal 2025 on the back of strong investment returns even as the Trump administration cut the school’s research funding.
Harvard Management Co, the university’s investment arm, said on Thursday it earned an 11.9 percent return in the fiscal year that ended June 30. The return beat the school’s long-term target of 8 percent, according to its annual report. In fiscal 2024, Harvard’s endowment earned a 9.6 percent return to total $53.2 billion.
The school said it also received a record $600 million in unrestricted gifts from alumni and friends as its battles with the Trump administration made news headlines.
President Donald Trump accused Harvard of fostering antisemitism on campus amid Israel’s war in Gaza, but critics said the charge was a pretext for a broader campaign against what Trump views as anti-conservative bias in academia.
The dispute, now playing out in court, also involves federal efforts to cut research funding and restrict international student enrollment at the university.
The school’s endowment allocated 41 percent of its assets to private equity investments and 31 percent to hedge funds, and kept its allocation to public equities unchanged at 14 percent, Harvard Management Chief Executive N.P. Narvekar wrote in a letter.
“Though endowment results in fiscal year 2025 were dampened by having less public than private equity, HMC’s performance overall was bolstered by discerning manager selection,” Narvekar wrote, referring to the endowment’s use of outside investment advisers.
Returns from Ivy League schools like Harvard are watched closely because they pioneered practices like using hedge funds and private equity funds, and they are under even more scrutiny due to the current political battles.
“We continue to adapt to uncertainty and threats to sources of revenue,” Harvard President Alan Garber wrote, without naming Trump.