What is Missile ?

“Hot-launched” ballistic missiles are launched directly from their canisters, while “cold-launched” missiles are ejected from the canisters by compressed gas before the rocket engines ignite. Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are ejected in this manner to the ocean surface from tubes within the submerged vessel. See also cruise missile; rocket; smart bomb; torpedo.

Designed to replace the AIM‐7, the AIM‐120A Advanced Medium‐Range Air‐to‐Air Missile (AMRAAM) was developed jointly by the U.S. Air Force and the U.S. Navy, and entered service in 1992.

Missile, a rocket-propelled weapon designed to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed.

The AIM‐120A has a high kill probability stemming from its being able to launch at any aircraft speed or target angle and from its “look‐down, shoot‐down” capability, meaning its ability to discern and hit a target against any background. Hughes Missile Systems and Raytheon are the principal contractors.

Missiles vary from small tactical weapons that are effective out to only a few hundred feet to much larger strategic weapons that have ranges of several thousand miles.

The Soviet Union, and its principal successor state, Russia, maintained a missile development program that closely matched that of the United States.

Almost all missiles contain some form of guidance and control mechanism and are therefore often referred to as guided missiles.

An unguided military missile, as well as any launch vehicle used to sound the upper atmosphere or place a satellite in space, is usually referred to as a rocket.

The latest versions of the AA‐10 Alamo missile and the AA‐12 Adder have many of the characteristics of the AMRAAM. Other nations tend to create niche market air‐to‐air missiles tailored to their industrial capability and particular defense needs.

A propeller-driven underwater missile is called a torpedo, and a guided missile powered along a low, level flight path by an air-breathing jet engine is called a cruise missile.

World War II saw the development of several air‐to‐surface tactical missiles, which ranged from the relatively simple 2.75‐inch‐diameter high‐velocity aerial rockets (HVAR) to forerunners of today's cruise missiles such as the Japanese Ohka kamikaze aircraft launched from Mitsubishi G4M “Betty” bombers.

Tactical guided missiles are generally categorized according to the location of the launch platform and target. There are five types, air-to-air, air-to-surface, surface-to-air, antiship, and antitank, or assault.

The first major U.S. air‐to‐surface missile was the AGM‐12B Bullpup, developed for the U.S. Navy during the Korean War, but later adopted by the U.S. Air Force and many foreign air forces.

Ballistic missiles are most often categorized as short-range, medium-range, intermediate-range, and intercontinental ballistic missiles (SRBMs, MRBMs, IRBMs, and ICBMs). SRBMs are effective to 300 miles (480 km), MRBMs from 300 to 600 miles (480 to 965 km), IRBMs from 600 to 3,300 miles (965 to 5,310 km), and ICBMs more than 3,300 miles (5,310 km).

ICBMs are usually launched from silos, which are reinforced canisters sunk into the ground for protection.

The Bullpup was essentially a rocket‐propelled bomb guided by radio from the launch aircraft. Very inexpensive (at one point having a unit cost of only $5,000), the Bullpup was built by the tens of thousands and used by aircraft of many countries. It was continually improved over time, and a laser‐guided version was built for the U.S. Marine Corps.

Shorter-range ballistic missiles and some ICBMs are launched from railroad cars or wheeled trailers that offer the protection of mobility.

“Hot-launched” ballistic missiles are launched directly from their canisters, while “cold-launched” missiles are ejected from the canisters by compressed gas before the rocket engines ignite.

First produced in 1971, the Hughes AGM‐65 Maverick represented a giant step forward technologically. The “launch and leave” Maverick depicts a target on a cockpit television screen; when launched, it homes automatically to its target. Later Mavericks had improved optics or an imaging‐infrared seeker.

Submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBMs) are ejected in this manner to the ocean surface from tubes within the submerged vessel. See also cruise missile; rocket; smart bomb; torpedo.

The development of powerful Soviet defenses against air attack made air‐launched missiles attractive to the U.S. Air Force. The 30‐foot‐long, 13,000‐pound Bell XB‐63 Rascal was a supersonic missile attached like an enormous goiter to the side of Boeing DB‐47E carrier aircraft. After a troubled development, it entered service in October 1957.

Missiles soon acquired a strategic capability. The North American AGM‐28A Hound Dog was an impressive Mach 2.1 delta‐wing aircraft that would today be termed a cruise missile. It could fly at any altitude from tree‐top level to more than 50,000 feet, with a maximum range of 710 miles; later models carried terrain avoidance and electronic warfare equipment.

Ballistic missiles contain some type of inertial guidance system, which compares the missile’s actual speed and position to the positions that it must assume in order to hit the target.

The Hound Dog carried a thermonuclear warhead of up to 4 megatons, and would have been used to blast a way for the carrier aircraft to reach its targets. B‐52 G and H models could carry two Hound Dogs whose 7,500‐pound‐thrust Pratt & Whitney J52 engines could be used to augment takeoff power. Over 590 Hound Dogs were delivered to the Strategic Air Command, serving from 1961 to 1976.

The guidance system then generates correcting commands to the control system.