Missile

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A V-2 rocket launch by the British during Operation

Backfire
HNLMS De Zeven Provinciën (F802) firing a Harpoon

In modern language, a missile is a self-

propelled precision-guided munition
system, as opposed to an unguided self-
propelled munition, referred to as a
rocket (although these too can also be
guided). Missiles have four system
components: targeting or missile
guidance, flight system, engine, and
warhead. Missiles come in types adapted
for different purposes: surface-to-surface
and air-to-surface missiles (ballistic,
cruise, anti-ship, anti-tank, etc.), surface-
to-air missiles (and anti-ballistic), air-to-
air missiles, and anti-satellite weapons.
All known existing missiles are designed
to be propelled during powered flight by
chemical reactions inside a rocket
engine, jet engine, or other type of
engine. Non-self-propelled airborne
explosive devices are generally referred
to as shells and usually have a shorter
range than missiles.

In ordinary British-English usage

predating guided weapons, a missile is
"any thrown object", such as objects
thrown at players by rowdy spectators at
a sporting event.[1]
Etymology and usage
The word missile comes from the Latin
verb mittere, meaning "to send".[2]

In military usage, munitions projected

towards a target are broadly categorised
as follows:

A powered, guided munition that

travels through the air or space known
as a missile (or guided missile).
A powered, unguided munition is
known as a rocket.
Unpowered munitions not fired from a
gun are called bombs whether guided
or not; unpowered, guided munitions
 are known as guided bombs or smart
bombs.
Munitions that are fired from a gun are
known as projectiles whether guided or
not. If explosive, they are known more
specifically as shells or mortar bombs.
Powered munitions that travel through
water are called torpedoes (an older
usage includes fixed torpedoes, which
might today be called mines).
Hand grenades are not usually classed
as missiles.

A common further sub-division is to

consider ballistic missile to mean a
munition that follows a ballistic trajectory
and cruise missile to describe a munition
that generates lift, similar to an airplane.

Early development

V-1 missile

The first missiles to be used

operationally were a series of missiles
developed by Nazi Germany in World
War II. Most famous of these are the V-1
flying bomb and V-2 rocket, both of which
used a simple mechanical autopilot to
keep the missile flying along a pre-
chosen route. Less well known were a
series of anti-shipping and anti-aircraft
missiles, typically based on a simple
radio control (command guidance)
system directed by the operator.
However, these early systems in World
War II were only built in small numbers.

Technology
Guided missiles have a number of
different system components:

Targeting or missile guidance

Flight system
Engine
 Warhead

Guidance systems

Missile Maintainer inspects missile guidance

system of the LGM-30G Minuteman ICBM

Missiles may be targeted in a number of

ways. The most common method is to
use some form of radiation, such as
infrared, lasers or radio waves, to guide
the missile onto its target. This radiation
may emanate from the target (such as
the heat of an engine or the radio waves
from an enemy radar), it may be provided
by the missile itself (such as a radar), or
it may be provided by a friendly third
party (such as the radar of the launch
vehicle/platform, or a laser designator
operated by friendly infantry). The first
two are often known as fire-and-forget as
they need no further support or control
from the launch vehicle/platform in order
to function. Another method is to use a
TV guidance—using either visible light or
infrared—in order to see the target. The
picture may be used either by a human
operator who steers the missile onto its
target or by a computer doing much the
same job. One of the more bizarre
guidance methods instead used a pigeon
to steer the missile to its target.

Many missiles use a combination of two

or more of the above methods to improve
accuracy and the chances of a
successful engagement.

Targeting systems

Another method is to target the missile

by knowing the location of the target and
using a guidance system such as INS,
TERCOM or satellite guidance. This
guidance system guides the missile by
knowing the missile's current position
and the position of the target, and then
calculating a course between them. This
job can also be performed somewhat
crudely by a human operator who can
see the target and the missile and guide
it using either cable- or radio-based
remote control, or by an automatic
system that can simultaneously track the
target and the missile. Furthermore,
some missiles use initial targeting,
sending them to a target area, where they
will switch to primary targeting, using
either radar or IR targeting to acquire the
target.

Flight system

Whether a guided missile uses a

targeting system, a guidance system or
both, it needs a flight system. The flight
system uses the data from the targeting
or guidance system to maneuver the
missile in flight, allowing it to counter
inaccuracies in the missile or to follow a
moving target. There are two main
systems: vectored thrust (for missiles
that are powered throughout the
guidance phase of their flight) and
aerodynamic maneuvering (wings, fins,
canard (aeronautics), etc.).

Engine
Solid rocket motor

Missiles are powered by an engine,

generally either a type of rocket engine or
jet engine. Rockets are generally of the
solid propellant type for ease of
maintenance and fast deployment,
although some larger ballistic missiles
use liquid-propellant rockets. Jet engines
are generally used in cruise missiles,
most commonly of the turbojet type, due
to its relative simplicity and low frontal
area. Turbofans and ramjets are the only
other common forms of jet engine
propulsion, although any type of engine
could theoretically be used. Long-range
missiles may have multiple engine
stages, particularly in those launched
from the surface. These stages may all
be of similar types or may include a mix
of engine types − for example, surface-
launched cruise missiles often have a
rocket booster for launching and a jet
engine for sustained flight.

Some missiles may have additional

propulsion from another source at
launch; for example, the V1 was
launched by a catapult, and the MGM-51
Shillelagh was fired out of a tank gun
(using a smaller charge than would be
used for a shell).

Warhead
Missiles generally have one or more
explosive warheads, although other
weapon types may also be used. The
warheads of a missile provide its primary
destructive power (many missiles have
extensive secondary destructive power
due to the high kinetic energy of the
weapon and unburnt fuel that may be on
board). Warheads are most commonly of
the high explosive type, often employing
shaped charges to exploit the accuracy
of a guided weapon to destroy hardened
targets. Other warhead types include
submunitions, incendiaries, nuclear
weapons, chemical, biological or
radiological weapons or kinetic energy
penetrators. Warheadless missiles are
often used for testing and training
purposes.

Basic roles
Missiles are generally categorized by
their launch platform and intended
target. In broadest terms, these will
either be surface (ground or water) or air,
and then sub-categorized by range and
the exact target type (such as anti-tank
or anti-ship). Many weapons are
designed to be launched from both
surface or the air, and a few are designed
to attack either surface or air targets
(such as the ADATS missile). Most
weapons require some modification in
order to be launched from the air or
surface, such as adding boosters to the
surface-launched version.

Ballistic

An R-36 ballistic missile launch at a Soviet silo

After the boost stage, ballistic missiles

follow a trajectory mainly determined by
ballistics. The guidance is for relatively
small deviations from that.
Ballistic missiles are largely used for land
attack missions. Although normally
associated with nuclear weapons, some
conventionally armed ballistic missiles
are in service, such as MGM-140
ATACMS. The V2 had demonstrated that
a ballistic missile could deliver a
warhead to a target city with no
possibility of interception, and the
introduction of nuclear weapons meant it
could efficiently do damage when it
arrived. The accuracy of these systems
was fairly poor, but post-war
development by most military forces
improved the basic Inertial navigation
system concept to the point where it
could be used as the guidance system on
Intercontinental ballistic missiles flying
thousands of kilometers. Today, the
ballistic missile represents the only
strategic deterrent in most military
forces; however, some ballistic missiles
are being adapted for conventional roles,
such as the Russian Iskander or the
Chinese DF-21D anti-ship ballistic
missile. Ballistic missiles are primarily
surface-launched from mobile launchers,
silos, ships or submarines, with air
launch being theoretically possible with a
weapon such as the cancelled Skybolt
missile.

The Russian Topol M (SS-27 Sickle B) is

the fastest (7,320 m/s) missile currently
in service.[3]

Cruise missile

United States Tomahawk cruise missile

Indian Supersonic cruise missile BrahMos.

The V1 had been successfully
intercepted during World War II, but this
did not make the cruise missile concept
entirely useless. After the war, the US
deployed a small number of nuclear-
armed cruise missiles in Germany, but
these were considered to be of limited
usefulness. Continued research into
much longer-ranged and faster versions
led to the US's SM-64 Navaho and its
Soviet counterparts, the Burya and Buran
cruise missile. However, these were
rendered largely obsolete by the ICBM,
and none were used operationally.
Shorter-range developments have
become widely used as highly accurate
attack systems, such as the US
Tomahawk missile and Russian Kh-55 .
Cruise missiles are generally further
divided into subsonic or supersonic
weapons - supersonic weapons such as
BrahMos are difficult to shoot down,
whereas subsonic weapons tend to be
much lighter and cheaper allowing more
to be fired.

Cruise missiles are generally associated

with land-attack operations, but also
have an important role as anti-shipping
weapons. They are primarily launched
from air, sea or submarine platforms in
both roles, although land-based
launchers also exist.

Anti-ship
Anti-ship

The French Exocet missile in flight

Another major German missile

development project was the anti-
shipping class (such as the Fritz X and
Henschel Hs 293), intended to stop any
attempt at a cross-channel invasion.
However, the British were able to render
their systems useless by jamming their
radios, and missiles with wire guidance
were not ready by D-Day. After the war,
the anti-shipping class slowly developed
and became a major class in the 1960s
with the introduction of the low-flying jet-
or rocket-powered cruise missiles known
as "sea-skimmers". These became
famous during the Falklands War, when
an Argentine Exocet missile sank a Royal
Navy destroyer.

A number of anti-submarine missiles

also exist; these generally use the missile
in order to deliver another weapon
system such as a torpedo or depth
charge to the location of the submarine,
at which point the other weapon will
conduct the underwater phase of the
mission.
Anti-tank

U.S. Army soldiers firing an FGM-148 Javelin

By the end of WWII, all forces had widely

introduced unguided rockets using High-
explosive anti-tank warheads as their
major anti-tank weapon (see
Panzerfaust, Bazooka). However, these
had a limited useful range of 100 m or
so, and the Germans were looking to
extend this with the use of a missile
using wire guidance, the X-7. After the
war, this became a major design class in
the later 1950s and, by the 1960s, had
developed into practically the only non-
tank anti-tank system in general use.
During the 1973 Yom Kippur War
between Israel and Egypt, the 9M14
Malyutka (aka "Sagger") man-portable
anti-tank missile proved potent against
Israeli tanks. While other guidance
systems have been tried, the basic
reliability of wire guidance means this
will remain the primary means of
controlling anti-tank missiles in the near
future. Anti-tank missiles may be
launched from aircraft, vehicles or by
ground troops in the case of smaller
weapons.
Surface-to-air

Anti-aircraft

MIM-104 Patriot missile being launched

By 1944, US and British air forces were

sending huge air fleets over occupied
Europe, increasing the pressure on the
Luftwaffe day and night fighter forces.
The Germans were keen to get some sort
of useful ground-based anti-aircraft
system into operation. Several systems
were under development, but none had
reached operational status before the
war's end. The US Navy also started
missile research to deal with the
Kamikaze threat. By 1950, systems
based on this early research started to
reach operational service, including the
US Army's MIM-3 Nike Ajax and the
Navy's "3T's" (Talos, Terrier, Tartar), soon
followed by the Soviet S-25 Berkut and S-
75 Dvina and French and British systems.
Anti-aircraft weapons exist for virtually
every possible launch platform, with
surface-launched systems ranging from
huge, self-propelled or ship-mounted
launchers to man-portable systems.
Anti-ballistic

Arrow missile

Like most missiles, the S-300, S-400

(missile), Advanced Air Defence and
MIM-104 Patriot are for defense against
short-range missiles and carry explosive
warheads.

However, in the case of a large closing

speed, a projectile without explosives is
used; just a collision is sufficient to
destroy the target. See Missile Defense
Agency for the following systems being
developed:

Arrow 3
Kinetic Energy Interceptor (KEI)
Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System
(Aegis BMD) - an SM-3 missile with a
Lightweight Exo-Atmospheric
Projectile (LEAP) Kinetic Warhead
(KW)

Air-to-air
A F-22 Raptor fires an AIM-120 AMRAAM

Soviet RS-82 rockets were successfully

tested in combat at the Battle of Khalkhin
Gol in 1939.

German experience in World War II

demonstrated that destroying a large
aircraft was quite difficult, and they had
invested considerable effort into air-to-air
missile systems to do this. Their
Messerschmitt Me 262's jets often
carried R4M rockets, and other types of
"bomber destroyer" aircraft had unguided
rockets as well. In the post-war period,
the R4M served as the pattern for a
number of similar systems, used by
almost all interceptor aircraft during the
1940s and 1950s. Lacking guidance
systems, such rockets had to be carefully
aimed at relatively close range to hit the
target successfully. The United States
Navy and U.S. Air Force began deploying
guided missiles in the early 1950s, most
famous being the US Navy's AIM-9
Sidewinder and the USAF's AIM-4 Falcon.
These systems have continued to
advance, and modern air warfare
consists almost entirely of missile firing.
In the Falklands War, less powerful
British Harriers were able to defeat faster
Argentinian opponents using AIM-9L
missiles provided by the United States as
the conflict began. The latest heat-
seeking designs can lock onto a target
from various angles, not just from
behind, where the heat signature from
the engines is strongest. Other types rely
on radar guidance (either on board or
"painted" by the launching aircraft). Air-
to-air missiles also have a wide range of
sizes, ranging from helicopter-launched
self-defense weapons with a range of a
few kilometers, to long-range weapons
designed for interceptor aircraft such as
the R-37 (missile).

Anti-satellite
ASM-135 ASAT missile launch in 1985

In the 1950s and 1960s, Soviet designers

started work on an anti-satellite weapon,
called the Istrebitel Sputnik, which
literally means "interceptor of satellites"
or "destroyer of satellites". After a lengthy
development process of roughly twenty
years, it was finally decided that testing
of the Istrebitel Sputnik be canceled. This
was when the United States started
testing their own systems. The Brilliant
Pebbles defense system proposed during
the 1980s would have used kinetic
energy collisions without explosives.
Anti-satellite weapons may be launched
either by an aircraft or a surface
platform, depending on the design. To
date, only a few known tests have
occurred.

See also
Wikimedia Commons has media
related to Missile.

Anti-aircraft warfare
Anti-ballistic missile defense
countermeasures
Aeroprediction
Anti-radiation missile
Center of pressure
Command missile
Guided missile destroyer
History of rockets and missiles
Missile approach warning system
Missile boat
Missile defense
Missile defense systems by country
Missile designation
Missile gap
Missile launch control center
Missile launchers
Missile range instrumentation ship
Missile tank
Missile Technology Control Regime
Missile turret
Missile vehicle
NATO missile defence system
Proportional navigation
Rocket garden
Scramjet
Skid-to-turn
Soft launching
Timeline of rocket and missile
technology
Transporter erector launcher
Trajectory optimization
Twilight phenomena
 Vertical launcher

References
1. Guardian newspaper: "Emmanuel
Eboué pelted with missiles while playing
for Galatasaray" Example of ordinary
English usage. In this case the missiles
were bottles and cigarette lighters
2. "Definition of MISSILE" . www.merriam-
webster.com. Retrieved 2016-06-08.
3. "World's military powers" . The
Independent.

External links
Wikimedia Commons has media
related to Missiles.
 Look up missile in Wiktionary, the free
dictionary.

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