Gas Attack Survivor Praises Action; Inside Factory Where Tomahawk Missiles are Made.
ALLEN: And the U.S. says the strikes launched with France and the U.K. were a success. They targeted Syria's chemical weapons program after that suspected chemical attack last week.</s>HOWELL: Syria, on the other hand, says most of the missiles were intercepted. But the United States says all of them hit their targets. Iran and Russia are critical of the strikes but many NATO countries have been supportive of it. The survivor of one of the first chemical attacks attributed to the Syrian regime is praising President Trump's decision to strike. The gas attack in 2013 targeted Ghouta, not far from the scene of the latest apparent chemical attack.</s>ALLEN: Then President Barack Obama was criticized at the time for not enforcing his so-called red line on the use of chemical weapons. Kassem Eid survived that attack in 2013 and he spoke with our colleague, Ana Cabrera, about it.</s>KASSEM EID, SURVIVOR, SYRIAN 2017 SARIN GAS ATTACK: just want to tell Mr. Trump like directly, I'm a Syrian refugee who survived chemical weapons attacks. Who lived under two years of siege and bombardment by the government. I would love to -- like, buy you a beer and just sit in front of you and tell you how bad it is in Syria. how you should listen to your heart, not listen to your generals. You proved once again yesterday that you have a big heart. At least a lot more bigger than Obama.</s>HOWELL: Now of the missiles used, the Tomahawk cruise missile has been the military's go-to in the United States, the main weapons in airstrikes like the one against Syria.</s>ALLEN: It's been using cruise missiles, the Tomahawk, for many, many years. And Gary Tuchman got a rare look inside the factory where they are made.</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Tomahawk is considered the world's most advanced cruise missile. It's been used in combat more than 2,000 times by the U.S. Navy from Syria to Sudan to Serbia. And all the new Tomahawks come out of one factory, this one in a city and state we've been asked not to reveal for security reasons. The 20-foot-long Tomahawks are manufactured by The Raytheon Company. Kim Ernzen is one of Raytheon's top missile executives.</s>KIM ERNZEN, V.P., RAYTHEON: This is the final configuration before it goes out the door to our customer. In this facility is where we do the integration of the rocket motors and the warheads, what we call the energetics elements of the missiles. Other components and set assemblies come from our other factories, located here. And then we do the finally assembly here, test it, fuel it and get it ready to go out the door.</s>TUCHMAN: How soon will these be going out the door?</s>ERNZEN: In the next couple of days.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): In this factory, 14 Tomahawks are about to be shipped out. Workers here are performing what they call a roll test to make sure there is nothing loose inside the missile and that everything is connected properly. Historically, Raytheon's contract with the Navy is for at least 196 missiles each year.</s>ERNZEN: Tomahawks can fly 1,000-plus miles. So it can get launched from a ship or a submarine. It can go up and loiter, as we call it, where it can fly around in a figure 8.</s>TUCHMAN: So in other words, once it's sent off, if you want to change where it's going --</s>TUCHMAN: -- just goes in a circle -</s>ERNZEN: It can be redirected and rerouted to a specific target.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): The Tomahawk has been around since the 1980s. But this is the newest version of the missile, manufactured since 2004. It can be used for up to 30 years and Tomahawks that haven't been used come back after 15 years for recertification and upgrades.</s>ERNZEN: So this is the rocket motor that launches it out of the vertical live system. So it is what propels it out. So when you see the footage of a missile coming out of a ship, it is the plume that gets it out of that vertical launch. As you move more up toward the front is the navigation, communications system and then ultimately up here at the very end is the warhead. And it is a 1,000-pound warhead.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): With their GPS guidance, the Tomahawks can strike within mere feet of a target. They're launched from ships or submarines.</s>ERNZEN: It comes from a submarine, it will then swim through the water. The rocket motor will take it up out of the water and then will eventually get it up into the airplane mode, which is where it will fly and perform its mission from there.</s>TUCHMAN: So it swims and it flies?</s>ERNZEN: It swims and it flies.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): The price tag per missile, about $1.1 million. Each Tomahawk weighs about 3,500 pounds. So when 66 of them are fired toward Syria, that was about 231,000 pounds of firepower. People who work here tell us this isn't just a job.</s>ERNZEN: It is an honor to be able to work for the men and women in uniform and to be able to supply them with a competitive advantage when they're put in harm's way. And that's what we do. We make sure that they have an unfair advantage out in theater.</s>TUCHMAN: So that's what you say, that this gives the U.S. military an unfair advantage?</s>ERNZEN: Absolutely. And we want to keep it that way.</s>TUCHMAN (voice-over): Gary Tuchman, CNN.</s>ALLEN: Thank you for watching this hour. I'm Natalie Allen.</s>HOWELL: And I'm George Howell. "NEW DAY" picks up our coverage from here.