Air-to-surface Missiles
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

An air-to-surface missile (ASM) or air-to-ground missile (AGM) is a
missile A missile is an airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight aided usually by a propellant, jet engine or rocket motor. Historically, 'missile' referred to any projectile that is thrown, shot or propelled towards a target; this ...
designed to be launched from
military aircraft A military aircraft is any Fixed-wing aircraft, fixed-wing or rotorcraft, rotary-wing aircraft that is operated by a legal or insurrectionary military of any type. Some military aircraft engage directly in aerial warfare, while others take on su ...
at targets on land or sea. There are also unpowered guided glide bombs not considered missiles. The two most common propulsion systems for air-to-surface missiles are rocket motors, usually with shorter range, and slower, longer-range
jet engine A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
s. Some
Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
-designed air-to-surface missiles are powered by
ramjet A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to . Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...
s, giving them both long range and high speed. Guidance for air-to-surface missiles is typically via laser guidance, infrared guidance, optical guidance or via
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 ...
signals. The type of guidance depends on the type of target. Ships, for example, may be detected via
passive radar Passive radar (also referred to as parasitic radar, passive coherent location, passive surveillance, and passive covert radar) is a class of radar systems that detect and track objects by processing reflections from non-cooperative sources of illu ...
or
active radar homing Active radar homing (ARH) is a missile guidance method in which a missile contains a radar transceiver (in contrast to semi-active radar homing, which uses only a passive radar, receiver) and the electronics necessary for it to find and track it ...
, which is less effective against multiple, small, fast-moving land targets. There is some cross-over between air-to-surface missiles and
surface-to-surface missile A surface-to-surface missile (SSM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed installations, or from a ship. They ar ...
s. For example, there was an air-launched version of the Tomahawk missile, superseded by the
AGM-86 ALCM The AGM-86 ALCM is an American Aerodynamics#Incompressible aerodynamics, subsonic air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) built by Boeing and operated by the United States Air Force. This missile was developed to increase the effectiveness and surviv ...
. Other missiles used in both roles include the
Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...
and AGM-84 Harpoon
anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...
s. Many air-to-surface missiles can be used against both ships and land targets, although some must be modified to perform a different role; for example, the AGM-84E Standoff Land Attack Missile is a land-attack version of the Harpoon. A major advantage of air-to-surface missiles for ground attack by aircraft is the standoff distance they provide: missiles can be launched from a distance without coming within range of the target's air defences. Most air-to-surface missiles are
fire-and-forget Fire-and-forget is a type of missile guidance which does not require further external intervention after launch such as illumination of the target or wire guidance, and can hit its target without the launcher being in line-of-sight of the tar ...
from a standoff distance, allowing the attacker to withdraw without approaching further after launch. Some missiles (typically
cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...
s or anti-ship missiles) have long enough range to be launched over the horizon, finding the target autonomously. Sub-categories of air-to-surface missiles include: *air-launched
anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...
s (typically launched from
helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...
s) *air-launched
cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...
s *air-launched
anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...
s *
anti-radiation missile An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ta ...
s Typically, the higher and faster the launching aircraft is flying, the longer the reach of a particular missile is. For long-range missiles this difference can be relatively small, but short-range missiles (like the
AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, a ...
) have a much longer range when launched at altitude. There have been examples of air-launched ballistic missiles ( Air Launched ICBM, GAM-87 Skybolt), but they are rare. Sometimes air-to-surface missiles are divided into the categories of ''tactical'' and ''strategic''. Typically missiles with chemical explosive or small nuclear warheads are classed as tactical, and large nuclear warheads as strategic.


List of air-to-surface missiles


Yemen (Houthi)

* AKHGAR


Japan

* ASM-1 * ASM-2 * ASM-3 * Type 93 air-to-ship missile


Argentina

* MP-1000 Martín Pescador * AS-25K


Brazil

* MAR-1 anti-radiation missile * FOG-MPM Fiber Optics Guided Multiple Purpose Missile. * AVTM-300 Cruise missile.


China

* C-101 *
C-601 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 ...
* C-602 * C-611 * C-701 * C-704 * C-705 * C-801 *
C-802 The YJ-83 (; NATO reporting name: CSS-N-8 Saccade) is a People's Republic of China, Chinese subsonic anti-ship missile, anti-ship cruise missile. It is manufactured by the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Third Academy. Develo ...
* C-805 * Changfeng (missile) (Chang Feng 1) * Changfeng (missile) (Chang Feng 2) * DH-10 * FL series (missile) * FL-8 * FL-9 * FL-10 * FL-7 * HJ-8 * HJ-9 * HJ-10 *
HJ-73 The 9M14 Malyutka (; "Little one", NATO reporting name: AT-3 Sagger) is a manual command to line of sight (MCLOS) wire-guided anti-tank guided missile (ATGM) system developed in the Soviet Union. It was the first man-portable anti-tank guided mi ...
* HN-1 * HN-3 * HN-2 * HY series * KD1 (missile) * KD2 (missile) * KD-63 * KD-88 * LMD-002 (missile) * LMD-003 (missile) * Sky Arrow (missile) * Sky Arrow 90 * SY series (missile) * TBI (missile) * TL-6 * TL-10 * YJ-12 * YJ-22 * YJ-62 * YJ-63 * YJ-82 * YJ-83 * YJ-91 * ZD1 (missile)


France

* AS.11 * AS.12 * AS.15TT * AS.20 * AS.30 * AS.30 TCA * AS.30 Laser * AS.37 Martel * ARMAT * HOT * Exocet * Mistral * SCALP EG * TRIGAT LR *
Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...
* ASMP * ASMP-A *
AASM AASM may refer to: * American Academy of Sleep Medicine * Anglo-American School of Moscow * Armement Air-Sol Modulaire, a French munition * Australian Active Service Medal {{disambig ...
* MMP * ANL


Germany

* Taurus KEPD 350 *
ARMIGER In heraldry, an armiger is a (natural or juridical) person entitled to use a heraldic achievement (e.g., bear arms, an "armour-bearer") either by hereditary right, grant, matriculation, or assumption of arms. Such a person is said to be armig ...
*
PARS 3 LR The PARS 3 LR in German service, also known as TRIGAT-LR (third generation anti-tank, long range) and AC 3G in French, is a fire-and-forget missile, which can be used against air or ground targets. It is intended for long range applications and ...
*
HOT (missile) The HOT (French: ''Haut subsonique Optiquement Téléguidé Tiré d'un Tube'', or High Subsonic, Optical, Remote-Guided, Tube-Launched) is a second-generation long-range anti-tank guided missile system. It was developed originally to replace the ...
* AS.34 Kormoran * RBS-15 (in cooperation with Sweden)


Greece

* HSC-1 Makedon


India

*
BrahMos The BrahMos (also designated as PJ-10)HeliNa/Dhruvastra (user trials) * SANT (under development) * Rudram-1 (in service) * NASM-SR (under development) * NASM-MR (under development) * CATS Hunter (under development)


Israel

* Popeye (missile) * Nimrod (missile) * Rampage (missile) * SkySniper *
Delilah (missile) The Delilah missile is a cruise missile or Loitering Munition, 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 ...
* Sea Breaker (missile) * Air lora * Luz (missile)


Iran

* Ghased 3 * Zoobin * Bina * Sadid-1 * Fajr-4 * Sattar 1 * Sattar 2 * Sattar 3 * Sattar 4 * Ghaem


Norway

* Penguin missile * Naval Strike Missile


Pakistan

* Baktar-Shikan Air Launched variant * Ra'ad (air-launched cruise missile) *
Barq Barq (, "lightning") is a laser-guided air-to-surface missile developed by Pakistan. It has a range of and weight of . Operational history The missile was unveiled on 13 March 2015 being fired from the NESCOM Burraq unmanned combat aer ...


South Africa

*Denel ZT3 Ingwe laser guided anti-tank guided missile *Denel Mokopa air-to-ground missile *Kentron TORGOS air launched sub-sonic cruise missile (development cancelled) *Denel Small Guided Missile (in development)


Sweden

* Rb 05 * RBS 15


Taiwan

* Hsiung Feng II (Its air-launched variant has been tested successfully, but it never entered service.) * Hsiung Feng III * Sky Sword IIA anti-radiation missile * Wan Chien


Turkey

* Cirit * UMTAS * MAM (Smart Micro Munition) ** MAM-C ** MAM-L ** MAM-T * SOM (Air-Launched Cruise Missile) *Akbaba
Anti-radiation missile An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ta ...
(Currently in development) * TUBITAK-SAGE KUZGUN (Modern Modular Mutual Cost-effective Munition) **KUZGUN-TJ: Turbojet-powered variant. **KUZGUN-SS: Gliding variant. **KUZGUN-KY: Solid fuel rocket-powered variant. **BOZOK: Mini version of KUZGUN, specifically designed for UAVs.


United Kingdom

* Blue Steel missile * Brimstone missile * Green Cheese missile (canceled in 1956) *
ALARM ALARM (Air Launched Anti-Radiation Missile) is a British anti-radiation missile designed primarily to destroy enemy radars for the purpose of Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses (SEAD). It was used by the Royal Air Force, RAF and is still used by ...
* Storm Shadow * BAe Sea Eagle * GAM-87 Skybolt ( air-launched ballistic missile; canceled) * Lightweight Multirole Missile * SPEAR 3


United States

* AGM-12 Bullpup (no longer in service) * AGM-22 (project ceased in 1980s, still in limited use) * AGM-28 Hound Dog (no longer in service) * AGM-45 Shrike (no longer in service) * AGM-53 Condor (project cancelled) * AGM-62 Walleye (no longer in service) * AGM-63 (project cancelled) * AGM-64 Hornet (project cancelled) *
AGM-65 Maverick The AGM-65 Maverick is an air-to-ground missile (AGM) designed for close air support. It is the most widely produced precision-guided missile in the Western world, and is effective against a wide range of tactical targets, including armor, a ...
(in service) * AGM-69 SRAM (no longer in service) * AGM-76 Falcon (project cancelled) * AGM-78 Standard ARM (no longer in service) * AGM-79 Blue Eye (project cancelled) * AGM-80 Viper (project cancelled) * AGM-83 Bulldog (project cancelled) * AGM-84 Harpoon (in service) *
AGM-86 ALCM The AGM-86 ALCM is an American Aerodynamics#Incompressible aerodynamics, subsonic air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) built by Boeing and operated by the United States Air Force. This missile was developed to increase the effectiveness and surviv ...
(in service) * AGM-87 Focus (no longer in service) *
AGM-88 HARM The AGM-88 HARM (High-speed Anti-Radiation Missile) is a tactical, air-to-surface anti-radiation missile designed to home in on electronic transmissions coming from surface-to-air radar systems. It was originally developed by Texas Instruments ...
(in service) * AGM-112 (reserved when program renamed GBU-15) * AGM-114 Hellfire (in service) * AGM-119 Penguin (in service) * AGM-122 Sidearm (no longer in service) * AGM-123 Skipper (out of service/no longer in service) * AGM-124 Wasp (project cancelled) * AGM-129 ACM (no longer in service) * AGM-130 (no longer in service) * AGM-131 SRAM II (project cancelled) * AGM-136 Tacit Rainbow (project cancelled) * AGM-137 TSSAM (project cancelled) * AGM-142 Have Nap (in service) * AGM-153 (project cancelled) * AGM-154 JSOW (in service) * AGM-158 JASSM (in service) * AGM-159 JASSM (project cancelled) * AGM-169 Joint Common Missile (project cancelled) * AGM-176 Griffin (in service) * AGM-X (in development) * Small Advanced Capabilities Missile (SACM) (in development) * Bold Orion (prototype) * GAM-87 Skybolt ( air-launched ballistic missile; project cancelled) * High Virgo (prototype) * Hypersonic Air-breathing Weapon Concept (in development) * AGM-179 JAGM (in development) * AGM-183A ARRW (project cancelled) * LRSO (in development)


USSR/Russian Federation

* Hermes-A * Kh-15 (
NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...
: AS-16 Kickback; ) *
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-2 ...
(NATO: AS-3 Kangaroo) * Kh-22 (NATO: AS-4 Kitchen; ) * Kh-23/Kh-66 Grom (AS-7 Kerry; Russian: Х-23 Гром, "Thunder") * Kh_25ML (NATO: AS-10 Karen; ) * Kh_25MP (NATO: AS-12 Kegler; ) *
Kh-28 The Kh-28 (; Nisan-28; NATO reporting name, NATO: AS-9 'Kyle') was the first Soviet Union, Soviet anti-radiation missile (ARM) for tactical aircraft. It entered production in 1973 and is still carried on some Sukhoi Su-22s in developing countries ...
(NATO: AS-9 Kyle; ) * Kh-29 (NATO: AS-14 Kedge; ) *
Kh-31 The Kh-31 (; AS-17 'Krypton') is a Soviet and Russian air-to-surface missile carried by aircraft such as the MiG-29, Su-35 and the Su-57. It is capable of Mach number, Mach 3.5 and was the first supersonic anti-ship missile that could be launched ...
(NATO: AS-17 Krypton; ) *
Kh-32 Kh-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. History Work on th ...
() *
Kh-35 The Zvezda Kh-35 (, NATO reporting name 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 whic ...
(NATO: AS-20 Kayak; ) * Kh-38 () * Kh-45 * Kh-47M2 Kinzhal (AS-24 Killjoy; Russian: Х-47M2 Кинжал, "Dagger") * Kh-55 (NATO: AS-15 Kent; ) * Kh-58 (NATO: AS-11 Kilter; ) * Kh-59 Ovod (NATO: AS-13 Kingbolt; Russian: Х-59 Овод, "Gadfly") * Kh-59M Ovod-M (NATO: AS-18 Kazoo) * Kh-80 (NATO: AS-19 Koala) * Kh-90 (NATO: AS-X-19 Koala) * KS-1 Komet (NATO: AS-1 Kennel) * KSR-2 (NATO: AS-5 Kelt) * KSR-5 (NATO: AS-6 Kingfish) * K-10S (AS-2 Kipper) * R-82 * S-5 * S-8 * S-13 * S-24 * S-25 * 9K114 Shturm (NATO: AT-6 Spiral)


See also

*
Surface-to-air missile A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-ai ...
*
Laser-guided bomb A laser-guided bomb (LGB) is a guided bomb that uses semi-active laser guidance to strike a designated target with greater accuracy than an unguided bomb. First developed by the United States during the Vietnam War, laser-guided bombs quickly pro ...
*
Anti-tank guided missile An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulde ...
*
Anti-ship missile An anti-ship missile (AShM or ASM) is a guided missile that is designed for use against ships and large boats. Most anti-ship missiles are of the sea-skimming variety, and many use a combination of inertial guidance and active radar homing. ...
*
Cruise missile A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled guided missile that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large payload over long distances with high precision. Modern cru ...
*
Anti-radiation missile An anti-radiation missile (ARM) is a missile designed to detect and home in on an enemy radio emission source. Typically, these are designed for use against an enemy radar, although jammers and even radios used for communications can also be ta ...
*
Anti-surface warfare Anti-surface warfare (ASuW or ASUW) is the branch of naval warfare concerned with the suppression of surface combatants. More generally, it is any weapons, sensors, or operations intended to attack or limit the effectiveness of an adversary's ...
* Air-to-ground weaponry


References


External links


EADS - Cassidian division - Products



Israel Military Industries Ltd. - Air-to-Ground Ammunition

Kongsberg Gruppen



MBDA missile systems - solutions

NTI.org - HiWING Mechanical & Electrical Technology Corporation

Royal Air Force - Long Range Air-to-Surface weapons - Brimstone

Raytheon Company - AGM-65 Maverick missile

SAAB Group - Weapon systems

TAURUS Systems GmbH
{{DEFAULTSORT:Air-To-Surface Missile Missile types Air-to-surface missiles