Armored Box Launcher

The Mark 143 Armored Box Launcher (ABL) is a four-round protected launch container for the BGM-109 Tomahawk Cruise Missile.

Fitted to the Iowa-class battleship following their 1980s recommissioning upgrade, each ABL contains four ready-to-fire Tomahawks.

The use of ABLs on these vessels rather than a non-armored solution was necessitated to enable the battleships to continue to exploit the capability provided by their heavy armor and reduce the vulnerability of the delicate missiles within.

As well as being fitted on to the United States Navy's Iowa-class battleships, this system was also fitted on the nuclear-powered cruisers, including the USS Long Beach and the Virginia class as well as some Spruance class destroyers (Comte de Grasse, Merrill, Conolly, John Rodgers, Leftwich, Deyo, and Ingersoll).

[1] The Armored Box Launcher shares one common handicap with the Vertical Launching System: It can not be reloaded at sea.

The large platforms located roughly in the middle of battleship USS Iowa contain the Armored Box Launchers, distinguishable by their lighter grey color.
A close-up look at an Armored Box Launcher unit, this one aboard USS New Jersey .