In this handout image provided by the U.S. Navy, The guided-missile destroyer USS
Arleigh Burke (DDG 51) launches Tomahawk cruise missiles on September 23, 2014 in the Red Sea
Credit: Photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Carlos M. Vazquez II/U.S. Navy via Getty Images
This week, the United States fired 59 Tomahawk missiles to destroy a Syrian airbase in retaliation against the Assad regime's alleged use of chemical weapons against its people, according to the Department of Defense.
The missiles, which were launched from ships in the Mediterranean Sea today local time (yesterday in the United States), were targeted at the al-Shayrat Air Base in Homs province, from which the Syrian military is suspected of deploying the planes that carried out the deadly nerve gas attacks this week. But how do these missiles work, and how were they able to precisely target this location without any pilot nearby? [Killer Chemistry: The Chemical Weapons of World War I] https://www.livescience.com/58603-how-tomahawk-missiles-work.html