Missile

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Guided missile
)

A missile is an airborne

Historically, 'missile' referred to any

artillery piece and bombs if dropped by an aircraft.[1]

Missiles are also generally

guided missiles or guided rockets. Missile systems usually have five system components: targeting, guidance system, flight system, engine, and warhead. Missiles are primarily classified into different types based on firing source and target such as surface-to-surface, air-to-surface, surface-to-air and air-to-air missiles
.

History

A V-1 flying bomb, amongst the first guided missiles

British which was developed into Congreve rocket and used in the Napoleonic Wars.[3][4]

In the early 20th century,

nuclear weapons
necessitated faster, accurate and versatile missiles with longer range and missile development was pursued by multiple countries.

Components

Guidance, targeting and flight systems

homing
system

A missile is most often guided by a guidance system though there are missiles that are unguided during some phases of flight.[11] The missile guidance system refers to methods of guiding a missile to its intended target as the missile's target accuracy is a critical factor for its effectiveness.[12] The missile guidance system accomplishes this by four steps: tracking the target, computing the directions using tracking information, directing the computed inputs to steering control and steering the missile by directing inputs to motors or flight control surfaces.[13] The guidance system consists of three sections: launch, mid-course and terminal with same or different systems employed across sections.[13]

A simplified diagram of a solid-fuel rocket.
  1. A propellant is packed with a hole in the middle
  2. An igniter combusts the propellant
  3. The hole acts as a combustion chamber
  4. The hot exhaust is choked at the throat
  5. Exhaust exits the rocket

The guidance and

wings, fins and canards.[18]

Engine

Missiles are powered by

oxidizer mixed in select proportions with the grain size and burn chamber determining the rate and time of burn.[20] Larger missiles might use liquid-propellant rockets where propulsion is provided by a single or combination of liquid fuels.[21] A hybrid system uses solid rocket fuel with a liquid oxidizer.[21] Jet engines are generally used in cruise missiles, most commonly of the turbojet type, because of their relative simplicity and low frontal area while turbofans and ramjets can also be theoretically used.[22][23] Long-range missiles have multiple engine stages and might use similar type or a mix of engine types. Some missiles may have additional propulsion from another source at launch such as a catapult, cannon or tank gun.[24]

Warhead

Missiles have one or more

Classification

Missiles can be classified into categories by various parameters such as type, launch platform and target, range, propulsion and guidance system.[27] Missiles are generally categorized into strategic or tactical missile systems. Tactical missile systems are short-range systems used to carry out a limited strike in a smaller area and might carry conventional or nuclear warheads.[28][29] Strategic missiles are long-range weapons used to target beyond the immediate vicinity and are mostly designed to carry nuclear warheads though other warheads can also be fitted.[29]

Typical ballistic missile sequence:
  • 1. Launches by firing motor1(A)
  • 2. Stage1 drops, motor2(B) ignites & shroud(E) ejects
  • 3. Motor3(C) ignites and separates
  • 4. Stage3 terminates and post-boost vehicle(D) separates
  • 5. Vehicle maneuvers itself and prepares re-entry vehicle (RV)
  • 6. RV with decoys and chaffs deploys
  • 7. RV re-enters the atmosphere
  • 8. Warhead(s) detonate on target

Strategic

Strategic weapons are often classified into cruise and ballistic missiles.[30] Ballistic missiles are powered by rockets during launch and follow a trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target while cruise missiles are continuously powered by jet engines and travel at a flatter trajectory.[30]

Ballistic

A ballistic missile is powered by single or multiple rockets in stages initially before following an unpowered trajectory that arches upwards before descending to reach its intended target. It can carry both nuclear and conventional warheads.

earth's atmosphere before re-entry.[32] It usually has three stages of flight:[31]

  • Boost phase: First phase at launch when one or more stages of rocket engine(s) fire propelling the missile
  • Mid-course phase: Second phase when the rocket engines stop firing and the missile continues ascending upwards on the given trajectory
  • Terminal phase: Final phase when the warhead(s) detach and descend towards the target
Tomahawk cruise missile
in flight

Ballistic missiles are categorized based on range as:[33][30]

  • Short-range
     : less than 1,000 kilometres (620 mi)
  • Medium-range
     : 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) to 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi)
  • Intermediate-range
     : 3,000 kilometres (1,900 mi) to 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi)
  • Inter-continental : greater than 5,500 kilometres (3,400 mi)

Cruise

A

supersonic and close to the surface of the earth which expends more fuel but makes it difficult to detect.[30]

Tactical

Missiles might be also be classified basis launch platform and target into

System Abbreviation Launch platform Target
Anti-ship
AShM Air/Land/Water Water
Anti-tank
ATGM Air/Land Land
Air-to-air AAM Air Air
Air-to-surface ASM Air Land
Surface-to-air SAM Land Air
Surface-to-surface SSM Land Land
Anti-satellite ASAT Air/Land/Water Space

Anti-ship

An AIM-120 AMRAAM AAM fired from a F-22
An Akash SAM fired from a mobile platform
An artist's impression of an ASAT

An anti-ship missile (AShM) is designed for use against large

shore batteries, land vehicles and by infantry.[35]

explosive warhead aimed directly at a submarine, a depth charge, or a homing torpedo.[36]

Anti-tank

An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder-launched weapons, which can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted or vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems. Earlier man-portable anti-tank weapons like anti-tank rifles and magnetic anti-tank mines had a short range but sophisticated antitank missiles can be directed to a longer target by several different guidance systems, including laser guiding, television camera, or wire guiding.[37]

Air-to-air

An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from a

liquid fueled. A radar or heat emission based homing system is generally used and sometimes can use a combination. Short range missiles used to engage opposing aircraft at ranges of less than 16 km often use infrared guidance while long range missiles mostly rely upon radar guidance.[38]

Air-to-surface

An air-to-surface missile (ASM) is a missile fired from a

satellite. Air-to-surface missiles for ground attack by aircraft provide a higher standoff distance engaging targets from far away and out of range of low range air defenses.[38]

Surface-to-air

A surface-to-air missile (SAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy

Anti-aircraft guns are being used only for specialized close-in firing roles.[39] Missiles can be mounted in clusters on vehicles or towed on trailers and can be hand operated by infantry. SAMs frequently use solid-propellants and may be guided by radar or infrared sensors or by a human operator using optical tracking.[38]

Surface-to-surface

A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land.[40] They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed installations or from a ship. They are often powered by a rocket engine or sometimes fired by an explosive charge, since the launching platform is typically stationary or moving slowly. They usually have fins and/or wings for lift and stability, although hyper-velocity or short-ranged missiles may use body lift or fly a ballistic trajectory.[41] Most anti-tank and anti-ship missiles are part of surface-to-surface missile systems.[38]

Anti-satellite

An anti-satellite weapon (ASAT) is a

first strike, a countermeasure against an adversary's anti-ballistic missile defense (ABM), an asymmetric counter to a technologically superior adversary, and a counter-value weapon.[47]

References

  1. ^ a b "missile, n. and adj.". OED Online. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021. a. An object propelled (either by hand or mechanically) as a weapon at a target
    b. Military. A long-distance weapon that is self-propelled, and directed either by remote control or automatically, during part or all of its course.
  2. .
  3. ^ Forbes, James; Rosée comtesse de Montalembert, Eliza (1834). Oriental Memoirs – A Narrative of Seventeen Years Residence in India, Part 68, Volume 1. p. 359. Retrieved 26 April 2022. The war rocket used by the Mahrattas which very often annoyed us, is composed of an iron tube eight or ten inches long and nearly two inches in diameter. This destructive weapon is sometimes fixed to a rod iron, sometimes to a straight two-edged sword, but most commonly to a strong bamboo cane four or five feet long with an iron spike projecting beyond the tube to this rod or staff, the tube filled with combustible materials
  4. ^ "Brief History of Rockets". NASA. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  10. ^ "Missile, Surface-to-Surface, V-2 (A-4)". National Air and Space Museum. April 1, 2016.
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  14. ^ Weapons System Fundamentals: Synthesis of systems. U.S. Government Printing Office. 1960. p. 60.
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  30. ^ a b c d "Difference between ballistic and cruise missiles". Military view. 14 September 2023. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  31. ^ a b c "Ballistic vs cruise missiles" (PDF). Arms Control Center. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 August 2020. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  33. ^ a b "Missile". Britannica. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  34. ^ "Cruise missile". Britannica. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
  35. ^ "Anti ship missile". Britannica. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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  38. ^ a b c d "Tactical Weapons system". Britannica. Retrieved 1 December 2023.
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External links

  • Media related to Missile at Wikimedia Commons
  • Media related to Missiles at Wikimedia Commons