-:Cruise missiles:-

Introduction:-

A cruise missile is a guided missile used against terrestrial 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 over long distances with high precision. Modern cruise
missiles are capable of travelling at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and
are able to fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory. They fly within the earth’s
atmosphere and use jet engine technology.

Cruise missiles generally consist of a guidance system, payload, and aircraft propulsion system,
housed in an airframe with small wings and empennage for flight control. Payloads usually
consist of a conventional warhead or a nuclear warhead. Cruise missiles tend to be propelled by
a jet engine, turbofan engines being preferred due to their greater efficiency at low altitude and
subsonic speed.

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.
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.

Catagories:-

Cruise missiles can be categorized by size, speed (subsonic or supersonic), and 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:-

Guidance systems can vary across missiles. Some missiles can be fitted with any of a variety of
navigation systems (Inertial navigation, TERCOM, or satellite navigation). Larger cruise missiles
can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead, while smaller ones carry only conventional
warheads.

Depending upon the speed such msls can be classified as:

Hypersonic,supersonic and subsonic.

Hypersonic

A hypersonic speed cruise missile would travel at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).

3M22 Zircon Russia Hypersonic anti-ship cruise missile.

BrahMos-II (≈300 km) India/Russia is a hypersonic missile currently under development in India
and Russia.

High Speed Strike Weapon missile based on Boeing X-51. United States

Kh-90 (3,000–4,000 km) Soviet Union/Russia is 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.

Supersonic

These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound(around 2-3 mach), usually using ramjet
engines. The range is typically 100–500 km, but can be greater. Guidance systems vary. Ex:
BrahMos- India / Russia – fastest supersonic cruise missile and the only one to complete the
tactical cruise missile triad. The modular design of missile and its capability of getting launched
at different orientations enable it to be integrated with a wide spectrum of platforms like warships,
submarines, different types of aircrafts, and mobile autonomous launchers.

Intercontinental-range supersonic

∙ 9M730 Burevestnik Russia

∙ Burya (8,500 km) USSR
∙ MKR (missile) (8,000 km) USSR
∙ RSS-40 Buran (8,500) USSR
∙ SLAM (182,000 km) United States
∙ SM-62 Snark (10,200 km) United States
∙ SM-64 Navaho (6,500 km) United States

Long-range subsonic
Flies at speed lesser than speed of sound(around 0.8 mach).The well known example is
American Tomahawk cruise msl. Other ex are Harpoon of USA and Exocet of France.
India's Nirbhay missiles mounted on a truck-based launcher

.These missiles have a range of over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) and fly at about 800 kilometres
per hour (500 mph). They typically have a launch weight of about 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lbs) and
can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. Earlier versions of these missiles
used inertial navigation; later versions use much more accurate TERCOM and DSMAC systems.
Most recent versions can use satellite navigation.
∙ BGM-109 Tomahawk (up 1,700 km) / United States/United Kingdom
∙ Nirbhay India (≈1000 km)

∙ Medium-range subsonic

∙
∙ Storm Shadow (UK/France/Italy)

∙ These missiles are about the same size and weight and fly at similar speeds to the above
category. Guidance systems vary.
Examples:
∙ Babur Pakistan (700 km)

Short-range subsonic
These are subsonic missiles which weigh around 500 kilograms (1,102 lb) and have a range of
up to 300 km (190 mi).
A Naval Strike Missile of the Norwegian Navy

Examples:
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 warhead and turbojet
engine. It is primarily a land-attack missile but the Kh-59MK variant targets ships.IT IS FITTED IN
SU-30MKI USED BY IAF