A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial or naval targets that remains in the atmosphere and flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large

warhead A warhead is the forward section of a device that contains the explosive agent or toxic (biological, chemical, or nuclear) material that is delivered by a missile, rocket, torpedo, or bomb. Classification Types of warheads include: * Expl ...

over long distances with high precision. Modern cruise missiles are capable of travelling at high subsonic, supersonic, or hypersonic speeds, are self-navigating, and are able to fly on a non-

ballistic Ballistics may refer to: Science * Ballistics, the science that deals with the motion, behavior, and effects of projectiles ** Forensic ballistics, the science of analyzing firearm usage in crimes ** Internal ballistics, the study of the proc ...

, extremely low-altitude trajectory.

History

The idea of an "aerial torpedo" was shown in the British 1909 film '' The Airship Destroyer'' in which flying torpedoes controlled wirelessly are used to bring down airships bombing

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. In 1916, the American aviator

Lawrence Sperry Lawrence Burst Sperry (21 December 1892, Chicago, Illinois, United States – December 13, 1923, English Channel) was an aviation pioneer who invented the autopilot and the artificial horizon. Biography He was the third son of the gyrocompa ...

built and patented an "aerial torpedo", the

Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane The Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane was a project undertaken during World War I to develop a flying bomb, or pilotless aircraft capable of carrying explosives to its target. It is considered by some to be a precursor of the cruise missile. Co ...

, a small biplane carrying a

TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...

charge, a Sperry

autopilot An autopilot is a system used to control the path of an aircraft, marine craft or spacecraft without requiring constant manual control by a human operator. Autopilots do not replace human operators. Instead, the autopilot assists the operator' ...

and a barometric altitude control. Inspired by the experiments, the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land warfare, land military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army o ...

developed a similar flying bomb called the

Kettering Bug The Kettering Bug was an experimental unmanned aerial torpedo, a forerunner of present-day cruise missiles. It was capable of striking ground targets up to from its launch point, while traveling at speeds of . The Bug's costly design and operat ...

. Germany had also flown trials with remote-controlled aerial gliders ''(Torpedogleiter)'' built by

Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke) was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin, Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & H ...

beginning in 1916. In the Interwar Period, Britain's Royal Aircraft Establishment developed the Larynx (Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine), which underwent a few flight tests in the 1920s. In the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

Sergei Korolev Sergei Pavlovich Korolev (russian: Сергей Павлович Королёв, Sergey Pavlovich Korolyov, sʲɪrˈɡʲej ˈpavləvʲɪtɕ kərɐˈlʲɵf, Ru-Sergei Pavlovich Korolev.ogg; ukr, Сергій Павлович Корольов, ...

headed the

GIRD The Moscow-based Group for the Study of Reactive Motion (also 'Group for the Investigation of Reactive Engines and Reactive Flight' and 'Jet Propulsion Study Group') (russian: Группа изучения реактивного движения, ...

-06 cruise missile project from 1932 to 1939, which used a rocket-powered boost-

glide bomb A glide bomb or stand-off bomb is a standoff weapon with flight control surfaces to give it a flatter, gliding flight path than that of a conventional bomb without such surfaces. This allows it to be released at a distance from the target r ...

design. The 06/III (RP-216) and 06/IV (RP-212) contained gyroscopic guidance systems. The vehicle was designed to boost to 28 km altitude and glide a distance of 280 km, but test flights in 1934 and 1936 only reached an altitude of 500 meters. In 1944, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, Germany deployed the first operational cruise missiles. The V-1, often called a flying bomb, contained a gyroscope guidance system and was propelled by a simple pulsejet engine, the sound of which gave it the nickname of "buzz bomb" or "doodlebug". Accuracy was sufficient only for use against very large targets (the general area of a city), while the range of 250 km was significantly lower than that of a bomber carrying the same payload. The main advantages were speed (although not sufficient to outperform contemporary propeller-driven interceptors) and expendability. The production cost of a V-1 was only a small fraction of that of a V-2 supersonic ballistic missile with a similar-sized warhead. Unlike the V-2, the initial deployments of the V-1 required stationary launch ramps which were susceptible to bombardment. Nazi Germany, in 1943, also developed the Mistel composite aircraft program, which can be seen as a rudimentary air-launched cruise missile, where a piloted fighter-type aircraft was mounted atop an unpiloted bomber-sized aircraft that was packed with explosives to be released while approaching the target. Bomber-launched variants of the V-1 saw limited operational service near the end of the war, with the pioneering V-1's design reverse-engineered by the Americans as the Republic-Ford JB-2 cruise missile. Immediately after the war, the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

had 21 different guided missile projects, including would-be cruise missiles. All but four were cancelled by 1948, — the Air Materiel Command Banshee, the

SM-62 Snark The Northrop SM-62 Snark is an early-model intercontinental range ground-launched cruise missile that could carry a W39 thermonuclear warhead. The Snark was deployed by the United States Air Force's Strategic Air Command from 1958 through 1961 ...

, the

SM-64 Navaho The North American SM-64 Navaho was a supersonic intercontinental cruise missile project built by North American Aviation (NAA). The final design was capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to the USSR from bases within the US, while cruising at ...

, and the

MGM-1 Matador The Martin MGM-1 Matador was the first operational surface-to-surface cruise missile designed and built by the United States. It was developed after World War II, drawing upon their wartime experience with creating the Republic-Ford JB-2, a ...

. The Banshee design was similar to

Operation Aphrodite Aphrodite and Anvil were the World War II code names of United States Army Air Forces and United States Navy operations to use Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and Consolidated PB4Y bombers as precision-guided munitions against bunkers and other har ...

; like Aphrodite, it failed, and was cancelled in April 1949. Concurrently, the US Navy's

Operation Bumblebee Operation Bumblebee was a US Navy effort to develop surface to air missiles (SAMs) to provide a mid-range layer of anti-aircraft defence, between anti-aircraft guns in the short range and fighter aircraft operating at long range. A major reason f ...

, was conducted at

Topsail Island Topsail Island (, TOP-sill) is a 26-mile (41.8 km) long barrier island off the coast of North Carolina, roughly equidistant between the barrier islands of the Crystal Coast and the beaches of the Cape Fear region, lying south of Jacksonvil ...

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

, from c. 1 June 1946, to 28 July 1948. Bumblebee produced proof-of-concept technologies that influenced the US military's other missile projects. During the Cold War, both the United States and the Soviet Union experimented further with the concept, deploying early cruise missiles from land, submarines and aircraft. The main outcome of the United States Navy submarine missile project was the SSM-N-8 Regulus missile, based upon the V-1. The United States Air Force's first operational surface-to-surface missile was the winged, mobile, nuclear-capable

, also similar in concept to the V-1. Deployment overseas began in 1954, first to

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and later to the Republic of China and South Korea. On 7 November 1956, the U.S. Air Force deployed Matador units in West Germany, whose missiles were capable of striking targets in the

Warsaw Pact The Warsaw Pact (WP) or Treaty of Warsaw, formally the Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation and Mutual Assistance, was a collective defense treaty signed in Warsaw, Poland, between the Soviet Union and seven other Eastern Bloc socialist repub ...

, from their fixed day-to-day sites to unannounced dispersed launch locations. This alert was in response to the crisis posed by the Soviet attack on Hungary which suppressed the

Hungarian Revolution of 1956 The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 (23 October – 10 November 1956; hu, 1956-os forradalom), also known as the Hungarian Uprising, was a countrywide revolution against the government of the Hungarian People's Republic (1949–1989) and the Hunga ...

. Between 1957 and 1961 the United States followed an ambitious and well-funded program to develop a nuclear-powered cruise missile, Supersonic Low Altitude Missile (SLAM). It was designed to fly below the enemy's radar at speeds above Mach 3 and carry hydrogen bombs that it would drop along its path over enemy territory. Although the concept was proven sound and the 500

megawatt The watt (symbol: W) is the unit of power or radiant flux in the International System of Units (SI), equal to 1 joule per second or 1 kg⋅m2⋅s−3. It is used to quantify the rate of energy transfer. The watt is named after James ...

engine finished a successful test run in 1961, no airworthy device was ever completed. The project was finally abandoned in favor of ICBM development. While ballistic missiles were the preferred weapons for land targets, heavy nuclear and conventional weapon tipped cruise missiles were seen by the USSR as a primary weapon to destroy United States naval

carrier battle group A carrier battle group (CVBG) is a naval fleet consisting of an aircraft carrier capital ship and its large number of escorts, together defining the group. The ''CV'' in ''CVBG'' is the United States Navy hull classification code for an ai ...

s. Large submarines (for example,

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the lis ...

and

Oscar Oscar, OSCAR, or The Oscar may refer to: People * Oscar (given name), an Irish- and English-language name also used in other languages; the article includes the names Oskar, Oskari, Oszkár, Óscar, and other forms. * Oscar (Irish mythology) ...

classes) were developed to carry these weapons and shadow United States battle groups at sea, and large bombers (for example, Backfire, Bear, and Blackjack models) were equipped with the weapons in their air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) configuration.

General design

Cruise missiles generally consist of a guidance system, payload, and aircraft propulsion system, housed in an airframe with small wings and

empennage The empennage ( or ), also known as the tail or tail assembly, is a structure at the rear of an aircraft that provides stability during flight, in a way similar to the feathers on an arrow.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third e ...

for flight control. Payloads usually consist of a conventional warhead or a

nuclear warhead A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions ( thermonuclear bomb), producing a nuclear explosion. Both bom ...

. Cruise missiles tend to be propelled by jet engine, with

turbofan The turbofan or fanjet is a type of airbreathing jet engine that is widely used in aircraft propulsion. The word "turbofan" is a portmanteau of "turbine" and "fan": the ''turbo'' portion refers to a gas turbine engine which achieves mechanic ...

engines in particular being preferred due to their greater efficiency at low altitude and subsonic speed.

Guidance systems

Guidance systems also vary greatly. Low-cost systems use a

radar altimeter A radar altimeter (RA), also called a radio altimeter (RALT), electronic altimeter, reflection altimeter, or low-range radio altimeter (LRRA), measures altitude above the terrain presently beneath an aircraft or spacecraft by timing how long it t ...

, barometric altimeter and clock to navigate a digital strip

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

. More advanced systems use

inertial guidance An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity ...

satellite guidance A guided bomb (also known as a smart bomb, guided bomb unit, or GBU) is a precision-guided munition designed to achieve a smaller circular error probable (CEP). The creation of precision-guided munitions resulted in the retroactive renaming of ...

and terrain contour matching (TERCOM). Use of an automatic target recognition (ATR) algorithm/device in the guidance system increases accuracy of the missile. The Standoff Land Attack Missile features an ATR unit from

General Electric General Electric Company (GE) is an American multinational conglomerate founded in 1892, and incorporated in New York state and headquartered in Boston. The company operated in sectors including healthcare, aviation, power, renewable en ...

Categories

Cruise missiles can be categorized by size, speed (subsonic or supersonic), range, and whether launched from land, air, surface ship, or submarine. Often versions of the same missile are produced for different launch platforms; sometimes air- and submarine-launched versions are a little lighter and smaller than land- and ship-launched versions. Guidance systems can vary across missiles. Some missiles can be fitted with any of a variety of navigation systems (

Inertial navigation An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity ...

TERCOM Terrain contour matching, or TERCOM, is a navigation system used primarily by cruise missiles. It uses a pre-recorded contour map of the terrain that is compared with measurements made during flight by an on-board radar altimeter. A TERCOM system ...

, or satellite navigation). Larger cruise missiles can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead, while smaller ones carry only conventional warheads.

Hypersonic

A hypersonic cruise missile travels at least five times the speed of sound ( Mach 5). * 14-X , a

scramjet A scramjet (supersonic combustion ramjet) is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow. As in ramjets, a scramjet relies on high vehicle speed to compress the incoming air forcefully ...

engine currently under development by Brazil. * 3M22 Zircon (>1000–1500 km) hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile. * ASN4G (Air-Sol Nucléaire de 4e Génération) , a

-powered hypersonic cruise missile *

BrahMos-II BrahMos-II or BrahMos-2 or BrahMos Mach II (note:Not to be confused with the BrahMos block II) is a hypersonic cruise missile currently under joint development by India's Defence Research and Development Organisation and Russia's NPO Mashinostroye ...

(≈800–1000 km) /, a hypersonic missile under development in India and Russia. * FC/ASW (300 km) (under development) – Franco-British stealth hypersonic cruise missile concept.Janes – Perseus: MBDA's missile of the future?
* HTDV - hypersonic scramjet demonstration a carrier vehicle for hypersonic and long-range cruise missiles is being developed by

Defence Research and Development Organisation The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) (IAST: ''Raksā Anūsandhān Evam Vikās Sangaṭhan'') is the premier agency under the Department of Defence Research and Development in Ministry of Defence of the Government of India, ...

(DRDO). * Hyfly-2 - air-launched hypersonic cruise missile first displayed at Sea Air Space 2021, developed by

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and p ...

Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept The Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC, pronounced "hawk") is a scramjet powered air-launched hypersonic cruise missile project at the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), that had a successful hypersonic flight an ...

(HAWC, pronounced Hawk) -

powered air-launched hypersonic cruise missile without a

and use its own kinetic energy upon impact to destroy the target, developed by DARPA * Kh-90 (3,000–4,000 km) / - a hypersonic air-to-surface cruise missile developed in 1990 by the USSR and later by Russia. This missile was designed to cruise from Mach 4 to Mach 6, eventually being able to travel at speeds lower than Mach 10–15. But this cruise-missile system did not enter service. *

Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile The Hypersonic Attack Cruise Missile (HACM) is a scramjet-powered hypersonic air-launched cruise missile project, the successor of the Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) and the SCIFiRE hypersonic programs. Technology developed for t ...

(HACM) planned for use by the

. * SCIFiRE / - Southern Cross Integrated Flight Research Experiment (SCIFiRE) is a joint program between the US Department of Defense and the Australian Department of Defence for a Mach 5

powered missile. In September 2021, the US Department of Defense awarded Preliminary Design Review contracts to

, Lockheed Martin and

Raytheon Missiles & Defense Raytheon Missiles & Defense (RMD) is one of four business segments of Raytheon Technologies. Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, its president is Wes Kremer. The business produces a broad portfolio of advanced technologies, including air and missi ...

Supersonic

These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, usually using

ramjet A ramjet, or athodyd (aero thermodynamic duct), is a form of airbreathing jet engine that uses the forward motion of the engine to produce thrust. Since it produces no thrust when stationary (no ram air) ramjet-powered vehicles require an as ...

engines. The range is typically 100–500 km, but can be greater. Guidance systems vary. Examples: * 3M-54 Kalibr (up to 4,500 km) Russia (the "Sizzler" variant is capable of supersonic speed at the terminal stage only) * 3M-51 Alfa (250 km) * Kh-15 (300 km) *

AGM-69 SRAM The Boeing AGM-69 SRAM (Short-Range Attack Missile) was a nuclear air-to-surface missile. It had a range of up to , and was intended to allow US Air Force strategic bombers to penetrate Soviet airspace by neutralizing surface-to-air missile de ...

(200 km) United States * Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (300–500 km+) France – supersonic stand-off nuclear missile * South Korea new AShM similar to Brahmos, ramjet * BrahMos (block-I 290 km, Block-II 500 & Block-IIA 600 km) / India / Russia – fastest supersonic cruise missile (3.2 mach) and the only one to complete the tactical cruise missile triad * Blyskavka Artem Luch Pivdenmash 100 – 370 km *

Hsiung Feng III The Hsiung Feng III (HF-3; , "Brave Wind III") is a medium range supersonic missile with capabilities to destroy both land based targets and naval targets developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan ...

(400 km) Taiwan * Yun Feng (~2,000 km) Taiwan * KD-88 China *

Kh-20 The Raduga Kh-20 (NATO reporting name: AS-3 Kangaroo) was an air launched cruise missile armed with a thermonuclear warhead which was developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. The Kh-20 was designed to be air-launched. Background Kh-20 ...

(380–600 km) USSR * Kh-31 (25–110 km) Russia *

Kh-32 Kh-32 (russian: Х-32) is a Russian supersonic air-launched cruise missile with a range of 600–1000 km developed by the MKB Raduga from the Kh-22. The missile was accepted to service in 2016 as armament for the Tu-22M3M bombers. Histor ...

(600–1,000 km) Russia * Kh-61 / USSR / Russia * Kh-80 (3,000–5,000 km) / * P-270 Moskit (120–250 km) / USSR / Russia * P-500 Bazalt (550 km) / USSR / Russia *

P-700 Granit The P-700 ''Granit'' (russian: П-700 "Гранит"; en, granite) is a Soviet and Russian naval anti-ship cruise missile. Its GRAU designation is 3M45, its NATO reporting name SS-N-19 ''Shipwreck''. It comes in surface-to-surface and subma ...

(625 km) / USSR / Russia * P-800 Oniks (600–800 km) Russia * P-1000 Vulkan (800 km) / USSR / Russia * DF-100 China * C-101 China *

C-301 The SY (), and HY () series were early anti-ship cruise missiles (ASCM) developed by the People's Republic of China from the Soviet P-15 Termit missile. They entered service in the late 1960s and remained the main ASCMs deployed by the People's ...

China *

C-803 The YJ-83 (; NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade) is a Chinese subsonic anti-ship cruise missile. It is manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Third Academy.Gromley et al.: page 101 Description The YJ-83 uses m ...

China – supersonic terminal stage only * C-805 China * CX-1 China *

YJ-12 The YJ-12 () is a Chinese supersonic anti-ship cruise missile. Description The YJ-12 is an air-launched missile that resembles a lengthened Kh-31 and is close in shape to the GQM-163 Coyote aerial target. A 2011 article in the United States N ...

(250–400 km) China * YJ-18 (220–540 km) China *

YJ-91 The YJ-91 () is an anti-radiation air-to-surface cruise missile produced by the People's Republic of China. It is a derivative of the Zvezda-Strela , type = Joint-stock company , location = , industry = Defense industryAerospace industry ...

China *

SSM-N-9 Regulus II The SSM-N-9 Regulus II cruise missile is a supersonic guided missile armed with a nuclear warhead, intended for launching from surface ships and submarines of the U.S. Navy (USN).Koch, Charles A"Regulus II cruise missile".''Regulus II Cruise Missi ...

(1,852 km) United States

Intercontinental-range supersonic

* 9M730 Burevestnik (Unlimited Range) Russia *

Burya The ''Burya'' ("Storm" in Russian; russian: Буря) was a supersonic, intercontinental cruise missile, developed by the Lavochkin design bureau (chief designer Naum Semyonovich Chernyakov) under designation La-350 from 1954 until the program can ...

(8,500 km) USSR * MKR (8,000 km) USSR * RSS-40 Buran (8,500 km) USSR *

SLAM Slam, SLAM or SLAMS may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Fictional elements * S.L.A.M. (Strategic Long-Range Artillery Machine), a fictional weapon in the ''G.I. Joe'' universe * SLAMS (Space-Land-Air Missile Shield), a fictional anti-ball ...

(cancelled in 1964) United States *

(10,200 km) United States *

(canceled in 1958) United States

Long-range subsonic

Nirbhay missiles during Republic Day Parade 2018

The United States, Russia, North Korea, India, Iran, South Korea, Israel, France, China and Pakistan have developed several long-range subsonic cruise missiles. These missiles have a range of over and fly at about . They typically have a launch weight of about and can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. Earlier versions of these missiles used

inertial navigation An inertial navigation system (INS) is a navigation device that uses motion sensors ( accelerometers), rotation sensors ( gyroscopes) and a computer to continuously calculate by dead reckoning the position, the orientation, and the velocity ...

; later versions use much more accurate

and DSMAC systems. Most recent versions can use satellite navigation. Examples: * 3M-54 Kalibr (up to 4,500 km) Russia * AGM-86 ALCM United States *

AGM-129 ACM The AGM-129 ACM (Advanced Cruise Missile) was a low-observable, subsonic, turbofan-powered, air-launched cruise missile originally designed and built by General Dynamics and eventually acquired by Raytheon Missile Systems. Prior to its withdraw ...

United States * AGM-181 LRSOUnited States * BGM-109 Tomahawk (up to 1,700 km) United States * BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile (2,500 km) * Kh-55 (3,000 km) and Kh-65 Russia * Kh-101 (4500–5500 km) Russia * Iskander-K not less than 3 500 km * Geumseong 4 North Korea > 1000 2000 km * RK-55 (3,000 km) Soviet Union *

Nirbhay Nirbhay (meaning ''Dauntless/Fearless'') is a long range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile designed and developed in India by the Aeronautical Development Establishment (ADE) which is under Defence Research and Development Organisation (DR ...

India (up to 1500 km) * Meshkat Iran (Range 2000 km) * MdCN (>1,000 km) France * Soumar Iran (Range allegedly 2,000–3,000 km) * Hoveyzeh (Cruise Missile) Iran (Range 1,350 km) * Quds 1 Houthi *

Hsiung Feng IIE The Hsiung Feng IIE (HF-2E; ) is a surface-to-surface cruise missile system developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan. Development According to ''Taiwan Defense Review'' (TDR), the HF-2E land atta ...

Taiwan * Hyunmoo III South Korea (Hyunmoo IIIA-500 km, Hyunmoo IIIB-1000 km, Hyunmoo IIIC-1500 km) * Type 12 SSM Japan *

MGM-13 Mace The Martin Mace was a ground-launched cruise missile developed from the earlier Martin TM-61 Matador. It used a new self-contained navigation system that eliminated the need to get updates from ground-based radio stations, and thereby allowed i ...

United States * DF-10/CJ-10 China (CJ-10K - 1500 km, CJ-20 - 2000 km) * Popeye Turbo SLCM Israel * GEZGİN (800-1,200 km) Turkey

Medium-range subsonic

These missiles are about the same size and weight and fly at similar speeds to the above category. Guidance systems vary. Examples: *

Storm Shadow Storm Shadow is an Anglo-French low-observable, long-range, air-launched cruise missile developed since 1994 by Matra and British Aerospace, and now manufactured by MBDA. Storm Shadow is the weapon's British appellation. In French service, it is ...

/SCALP (560 km) / France/UK *

Taurus KEPD 350 Taurus KEPD 350 is a Swedish-German air-launched cruise missile, manufactured by Taurus Systems and used by Germany, Spain, and South Korea. Taurus Systems GmbH is a partnership between MBDA Deutschland GmbH (formerly LFK) and Saab Bofors Dynam ...

(500+ km) // Germany / Sweden / Spain * Kh-50 (Kh-SD) and Kh-101 Kh-65 variants Russia *

P-5 Pyatyorka The P-5 ''"Pyatyorka"'' (russian: П-5 «Пятёрка»; "Pyatyorka", "fiver" in English), also known by the NATO codename SS-N-3C Shaddock, is a Cold War era turbojet-powered cruise missile of the Soviet Union, designed by the Chelomey desig ...

(450–750 km) Russia, North Korea * Raad Iran (360 km) * Ya-Ali (700 km) Iran * Hyunmoo-3 (within 1500 km) South Korea * Babur-1 Pakistan (300 km) * Babur-1 A Pakistan (450 km) * Babur-1 B Pakistan (600+ km) * Babur-2 Pakistan (650 km) * Babur-3 Pakistan (450 km) * Ra'ad ALCM (350 km) Pakistan * Ra'ad Mark-2 ALCM (400 km) Pakistan * Zarb (320 km) Pakistan * Harbah (250–450 km) Pakistan * KD-63 China * SOM (SOM B Block I) Turkey (350 km range under serial production, 500 km + range under development) – 500 km, 1500 km and 2500 km versions * AGM-158 JASSM (370–1900 km) United States * AGM-158C LRASM (USA) (370 km+-560 km+) United States *

(700 km) United States * SSM-N-8 Regulus (926 km) United States

Short-range subsonic

These are subsonic missiles that weigh around and have a range of up to . NSM PICT0001

Examples: * Apache (100–140 km) France * AVMT-300 (300 km) Brazil * MICLA-BR (300 km) Brazil * Hyunmoo-3 (over 300 km) shorter range South Korea *

SSM-700K Haeseong The SSM-700K C-Star (Haeseong) (, Sea Star) is a ship-launched sea-skimming surface-to-surface anti-ship cruise missile developed by the South Korean Agency for Defense Development (ADD), LIG Nex1 and the Republic of Korea Navy in 2003. The mi ...

(180+ km) South Korea *

Kh-35 The Zvezda Kh-35 (russian: Х-35 , AS-20 'Kayak') is a Soviet turbojet subsonic cruise anti-ship missile. The missile can be launched from helicopters, surface ships and coastal defence batteries with the help of a rocket booster, in which c ...

(130–300 km) Russia, KN-19 Ks3/4 North Korea *

Kh-59 The Kh-59 ''Ovod'' (russian: Х-59 Овод ' Gadfly'; AS-13 'Kingbolt') is a Russian TV-guided cruise missile with a two-stage solid-fuel propulsion system and 200 km range. The Kh-59M ''Ovod-M'' (AS-18 'Kazoo') is a variant with a bigger war ...

(115–550 km) Russia * P-15 (40–80 km) Russia, KN-1 North Korea * Nasr-1 Iran * Zafar (25 km) Iran * Noor Iran * Qader Iran *

Naval Strike Missile The Naval Strike Missile (NSM) is an anti-ship and land-attack missile developed by the Norwegian company Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (KDA). The original Norwegian name was Nytt sjømålsmissil (literally ''New sea target missile'', indicatin ...

(185–555 km) Norway * RBS-15 Sweden * Korshun a locally derivative of Kh-55 and RK-55, made by Artem Luch Vizar (ZhMZ), KhAZ,
Yuzhnoe Pivdenmash, powered by an AI Progress Motor Sich MS-400 like Neptun missile and same builders designer. * Neptune Ukraine * V-1 flying bomb (250 km) Nazi Germany Hsiung Feng II Anti-Ship Missile Display in Chengkungling 20111009a

Hsiung Feng II Anti-Ship Missile Display in Chengkungling 20111009a

Hsiung Feng II The Hsiung Feng II (HF-2; , "Brave Wind II") is an anti-ship missile system developed by the National Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology (NCSIST) in Taiwan. The HF-2 is designed to be deployed aboard ships or at facilities on land. ...

Taiwan * Wan Chien Taiwan *

VCM-01 VCM-01 ("VCM" likely stands for ''"Vietnamese Cruise Missile"'') is a family of Vietnamese subsonic anti-surface cruise missiles that is being developed by the Viettel Aerospace Institute (VTX). Little information has been officially and public ...

Vietnam 100–300 km * Aist Belarus 100 200 – 300 km * Marte ER 100+ km : Sea Killer export variant *

Otomat The Otomat is an anti-ship and coastal defence missile developed by the Italian company Oto Melara jointly with Matra and now made by MBDA. The name comes, for the first versions, from the name of the two builders ("Oto Melara" and "Matra") an ...

(180 km) / France / Italy : Otomat Mk2 E / Teseo Mk2/E 360 km new turbofan * C-801 (40 km) China * C-802 (120–230 km) China *

China * C-805 China *

C-602 The YJ-62 () is a Chinese subsonic anti-ship cruise missile. It is manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Third Academy. Description In a September 2014 article published in Joint Forces Quarterly, the YJ-62 is c ...

China * CM-602G China *

Delilah missile The Delilah missile is a cruise missile or loitering munition developed in Israel by Israel Military Industries (IMI). It is designed to target moving and re-locatable targets with a circular error probable (CEP) of . Unlike a typical cruise missi ...

(250 km) Israel * Gabriel IV (200 km) Israel * Popeye turbo ALCM (78 km) Israel *

RGM-84 Harpoon The Harpoon is an all-weather, over-the-horizon, anti-ship missile manufactured by McDonnell Douglas (now Boeing Defense, Space & Security). The AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile (SLAM) and later AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (Standoff Land Attack ...

(124–310 km) United States *

AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile The AGM-84E SLAM (Standoff Land Attack Missile) was a subsonic, over-the-horizon air-launched cruise missile that was developed by McDonnell Douglas from the AGM-84 Harpoon antiship missile. The SLAM was designed to provide all-weather, day and ...

(110 km) United States * AGM-84H/K SLAM-ER (270 km) United States * Silkworm (100–500 km) China * SOM Turkey * Atmaca Turkey * Çakır Turkey

Deployment

The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high-value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and dams. Modern guidance systems permit accurate attacks. , the BGM-109

Tomahawk missile The Tomahawk () Land Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations. Under contract fr ...

model has become a significant part of the United States naval arsenal. It gives ships and submarines an extremely accurate, long-range, conventional land attack weapon. Each costs about US$1.99 million. Both the Tomahawk and the AGM-86 were used extensively during Operation Desert Storm. On 7 April 2017, during the Syrian Civil War, U.S. warships fired more than 50 cruise missiles into a Syrian air base in retaliation for a Syrian Sarin gas attack against a rebel stronghold. The

(USAF) deploys an air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-86 ALCM. The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is the exclusive delivery vehicle for the AGM-86 and

. Both missile types are configurable for either conventional or nuclear warheads. The USAF adopted the AGM-86 for its bomber fleet while AGM-109 was adapted to launch from trucks and ships and adopted by the USAF and Navy. The truck-launched versions, and also the Pershing II and SS-20 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, were later destroyed under the bilateral INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) treaty with the USSR. The British

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

(RN) also operates cruise missiles, specifically the U.S.-made Tomahawk, used by the RN's nuclear submarine fleet. UK conventional warhead versions were first fired in combat by the RN in 1999, during the

Kosovo War The Kosovo War was an armed conflict in Kosovo that started 28 February 1998 and lasted until 11 June 1999. It was fought by the forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (i.e. Serbia and Montenegro), which controlled Kosovo before the wa ...

(the United States fired cruise missiles in 1991). The

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

uses the

cruise missile on its Typhoon and previously its Tornado GR4 aircraft. It is also used by France, where it is known as SCALP EG, and carried by the

Armée de l'Air The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Arm ...

's Mirage 2000 and

Rafale The Dassault Rafale (, literally meaning "gust of wind", and "burst of fire" in a more military sense) is a French twin-engine, canard delta wing, multirole fighter aircraft designed and built by Dassault Aviation. Equipped with a wide rang ...

aircraft.

India and Russia have jointly developed the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos. There are three versions of the Brahmos: ship/land-launched, air-launched and sub-launched. The ship/land-launched version were operational as of late 2007. The Brahmos has the capability to attack targets on land. Russia also continues to operate other cruise missiles: the SS-N-12 Sandbox, SS-N-19 Shipwreck, SS-N-22 Sunburn and SS-N-25 Switchblade. Germany and Spain operate the Taurus missile while Pakistan has made the Babur missile Both the

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

and the Republic of China (

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

) have designed several cruise missile variants, such as the well-known C-802, some of which are capable of carrying biological, chemical, nuclear, and conventional warheads.

Nuclear warhead versions

China

China has

CJ-10 The CJ-10 () is a second-generationGormley et al.: p.102 Chinese ground-based land-attack missile.United States Office of the Secretary of Defense: Annual Report To Congress 2015, p.39 It is derived from the Kh-55 missile. It is reportedly manufa ...

land attack cruise missile which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Additionally, China appears to have tested a hypersonic cruise missile in August 2021, a claim it denies.

France

The French

Force de Frappe The ''Force de frappe'' (French language, French: "strike force"), or ''Force de dissuasion'' ("deterrent force") after 1961,Gunston, Bill. Bombers of the West. New York: Charles Scribner's and Sons; 1973. p104 is the designation of what used to ...

nuclear forces include both land and sea-based bombers with Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) high speed medium range nuclear cruise missiles. Two models are in use, ASMP and a newer ASMP-Ameliorer Plus (ASMP-A), which was developed in 1999. An estimated 40 to 50 were produced.

India

India in 2017 successfully flight-tested its indigenous

('Fearless') land-attack cruise missile, which can deliver nuclear warheads to a strike range of 1,000-km. Nirbhay had been flight-tested successfully.

Israel

The Israel Defense Forces reportedly deploy the medium-range air-launched Popeye Turbo ALCM and the Popeye Turbo SLCM medium-long range cruise missile with nuclear warheads on

Dolphin class submarine The ''Dolphin'' class (Hebrew: הצוללות מסדרת דולפין) is a diesel-electric submarine developed in Israel and constructed by Howaldtswerke-Deutsche Werft AG (HDW) in Kiel, Germany, for the Israeli Navy. The first boats of the c ...

Pakistan

Pakistan currently has four cruise missile systems: the air-launched

Ra'ad The Ra'ad ( ur, رعد, "Thunder") is a Pakistani air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) . The missile was first tested in August 2007. Development and design The Ra'ad is a joint project developed by Pakistan Air Force's Air Weapons Complex and ...

and its enhanced version Ra'ad II; the ground and underwater launched Babur; ship-launched Harbah missile and surface launched Zarb missile. Both,

and Babur, can carry nuclear warheads between 10 and 25 kt, and deliver them to targets at a range of up to and respectively. Babur has been in service with the Pakistan Army since 2010.

Russia

Russia has Kh-55SM cruise missiles, with a range similar to the United States'

AGM-129 The AGM-129 ACM (Advanced Cruise Missile) was a stealth aircraft, low-observable, subsonic, turbofan-powered, air-launched cruise missile originally designed and built by General Dynamics and eventually acquired by Raytheon Missile Systems. Prior ...

range of 3000 km, but are able to carry a more powerful warhead of 200 kt. They are equipped with a

system which allows them to cruise at an altitude lower than 110 meters at subsonic speeds while obtaining a CEP accuracy of 15 meters with an inertial navigation system. They are air-launched from either Tupolev Tu-95s, Tupolev Tu-22Ms, or Tupolev Tu-160s, each able to carry 16 for the Tu-95, 12 for the Tu-160, and 4 for the Tu-22M. A stealth version of the missile, the Kh-101 is in development. It has similar qualities as the Kh-55, except that its range has been extended to 5,000 km, equipped with a 1,000 kg conventional warhead, and has stealth features which reduces its probability of intercept. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most recent cruise missile developed was the Kalibr missile which entered production in the early 1990s and officially inducted into the Russian arsenal in 1994. However, it only saw its combat debut on 7 October 2015, in Syria as a part of the Russian military campaign in Syria. The missile has been used 14 more times in combat operations in Syria since its debut. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union was attempting to develop cruise missiles. In this short time frame, the Soviet Union was working on nearly ten different types of cruise missiles. However, due to resources, most of the initial types of cruise missiles developed by the Soviet Union were Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles or Submarine-Launched Cruise Missiles ( SLCMs). The

SS-N-1 The KSShch (russian: Корабельный снаряд «Щука» (КСЩ); tr.:''Korabelny snaryad Shchuka (KSShch)''; en, Shchuka Anti-Ship Missile, "Shchuka" – pike in English) was a Soviet anti-ship cruise missile design that car ...

cruise missile was developed to have different configurations to be fired from a submarine or a ship. However, as the time progressed, the Soviet Union began to work on air launched cruise missiles as well ( ALCM). These ACLM missiles were typically delivered via bombers designated as "Blinders" or "Backfire". The missiles in this configuration were called the AS-1, and AS-2 with eventual new variants with more development time. The main purpose of Soviet-based cruise missiles was to have defense and offensive mechanisms against enemy ships; in other words most of the Soviet cruise missiles were anti-ship missiles. the 1980s the Soviet Union had developed an arsenal of cruise missiles nearing 600 platforms which consisted of land, sea, and air delivery systems.

United States

The United States has deployed nine nuclear cruise missiles at one time or another. *

ground-launched missile, out of service *

ground-launched missile, out of service * SSM-N-8 Regulus submarine-launched missile, out of service *

ground-launched missile, out of service *

AGM-28 Hound Dog The North American Aviation AGM-28 Hound Dog was a supersonic, turbojet-propelled, nuclear armed, air-launched cruise missile developed in 1959 for the United States Air Force. It was primarily designed to be capable of attacking Soviet gr ...

air-launched missile, out of service * BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile, out of service * AGM-86 ALCM air-launched cruise missile, 350 to 550 missiles and W80 warheads still in service * BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile in nuclear submarine-, surface ship-, and ground-launched models, nuclear models out of service but warheads kept in reserve. *

air-launched missile, out of service

Efficiency in modern warfare

Currently cruise missiles are among the most expensive of single-use weapons, up to several million dollars apiece. One consequence of this is that its users face difficult choices in target allocation, to avoid expending the missiles on targets of low value. For instance, during the 2001 strikes on Afghanistan the United States attacked targets of very low monetary value with cruise missiles, which led many to question the efficiency of the weapon. However, proponents of the cruise missile counter that the weapon can not be blamed for poor target selection and the same argument applies to other types of UAVs: they are cheaper than human pilots when total training and infrastructure costs are taken into account, not to mention the risk of loss of personnel. As demonstrated in Libya in 2011 and prior conflicts, cruise missiles are much more difficult to detect and intercept than other aerial assets (reduced radar cross-section, infrared and visual signature due to smaller size), suiting them to attacks against static air defense systems.

References

https://uslivenic.com/3m22-zircon-missile-russias-fastest-missile/

External links

*
3M22 Zircon missile – Russia’s fastest missile.

Cruise MissileRussia Cruise missile
ttps://fas.org/nuke/intro/cm/index.html An introduction to cruise missiles{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160411115104/http://fas.org/nuke/intro/cm/index.html , date=11 April 2016 — From the website of the Federation of American Scientists (FAS)
Missile_Threat:_A_Project_of_the_Center_for_Strategic_and_International_Studies
.html" ;"title="Center for Strategic and International Studies">Missile Threat: A Project of the Center_for_Strategic_and_International_Studies">Missile_Threat:_A_Project_of_the_Center_for_Strategic_and_International_Studies
{{Missile_types {{Authority_control {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise_Missile Cruise_missiles.html" ;"title="Center for Strategic and International Studies
">Center for Strategic and International Studies">Missile Threat: A Project of the Center for Strategic and International Studies
{{Missile types {{Authority control {{DEFAULTSORT:Cruise Missile Cruise missiles"> Missile types Low flying

History

General design

Guidance systems

Categories

Hypersonic

Supersonic

Intercontinental-range supersonic

Long-range subsonic

Medium-range subsonic

Short-range subsonic

Deployment

Nuclear warhead versions

China

France

India

Israel

Pakistan

Russia

United States

Efficiency in modern warfare

See also

References

External links