The U.S. Navy is requesting $8.5 billion from the Congress to buy UGM-109E Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles (TLAMs) to replace missiles expended over the past six months in operations in Syria and Yemen.

The request, which is included in the navy's fiscal year 2018 budget, will go to the acquisition of 66 Tomahawks. The Navy is actually requesting 100 of the $1 million missiles in order to obtain quantity costs savings on the purchase, said Navy Rear Adm. Brian Luther, deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for Budget.

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The crises in the Middle East have seen increased demands on the very accurate Tomahawk.

On Oct. 12, 2016, the USS Nitze (DDG-94), one of its three warships patrolling the Red Sea off the southern coast of Yemen, launched five Tomahawk Land Attack Missiles against three coastal radar sites in Yemen.

The attack was in retaliation for previous attacks by Yemeni Houthi rebels who fired three missiles at a U.S. Navy destroyer on Oct. 9. The navy said the Nitze's strike destroyed three radar stations that detected and electronically "painted" or locked onto the U.S. warship.

But the most numerous, and more spectacular, use of the Tomahawks occurred April 7 when 60 Tomahawks were launched from the USS Ross (DDG-71), which fired 36 Tomahawks, while the USS Porter (DDG-78) launched 23. One of the Tomahawks malfunctioned and crashed into the Mediterranean Sea shortly after launch.

The target of this massive precision attack was the Shayrat Air Base in western Syria, one of the major airbases operated by the Syrian Arab Air Force and one that houses a chemical weapons storage depot.

Shayrat Air Base is home to the Syrian Arab Air Force 50th Air Brigade and its attached three fighter squadrons. It has two runways and around 40 hardened shelters.

The Tomahawks hit aircraft, concrete hangars, petroleum and logistical storage, ammunition supply bunkers, air defense systems, and "the things that make the airfield operate," said Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis.

Previous to this strike, the last time Tomahawk missiles were used was in 2014 in attacks against Islamic State militants.