How are cruise missiles different from ballistic missiles?
Jun 24, 2015 · Cruise missiles have rocket or jet engines that are powered during the entire flight. It allows the missile to cruise low through the atmosphere, sometimes just above ground level. Lift and guidance of the missile are achieved by aerodynamic forces. Ballistic missiles on the other hand are not powered during most of their flight.
What is the difference between a guided rocket and a guided …
Mar 24, 2024 · The cruise missile operating at low altitude, sometimes close to the ground, is constantly propelled. Its range is limited by the fuel tank capacity. It's the counterpart in air of the underwater torpedo. The ballistic missile is propelled for the ascent (boost phase) and returns to the ground in free fall following a parabolic trajectory. This ...
What are the advantages of using a ramjet in an air-to-surface …
Dec 31, 2018 · A few older cruise missiles (particularly in the anti-ship arena) use rockets, such as the Styx/Silkworm missiles and the older Exocets. For a long-range cruise missile ramjet propulsion provides the cost/benefit split versus other jets as you'd expect - more fuel means a larger missile, but a higher speed makes interception harder.
supersonic - Is fuel efficiency the only reason why hypersonic …
Apr 24, 2022 · Remember a hyper-sonic missile, in practice, is a solid-motor ballistic missile with a waverider warhead. To accelerate to hyper-sonic speed and climb to that altitude you have to use a rocket booster, but once you are there however, the a …
terminology - Are missiles aircraft? - Aviation Stack Exchange
Jul 15, 2024 · Many ballistic missiles are spacecraft, not aircraft. By and large, they would work better if the atmosphere weren't there to begin with! There are ballistic missiles that use flight control surfaces to maneuver on reentry, though, and I think it's reasonable to consider these reentry vehicles to be aircraft, specifically gliders.
How can a supersonic cruise missile be intercepted?
Mar 15, 2022 · A lot of these systems are designed as anti-ballistic missiles (ABM), but because of the similar task and generally lower intercept requirements (less speed, lower altitude compared to a ballistic missile), ABM systems are generally capable of intercepting a supersonic missile as well. For example the LY-80/HQ-16 can intercept targets as low as ...
How do missiles steer (mainly air to surface)?
Sep 7, 2020 · In addition, they are mostly used in subsonic cruise missiles like Tomahawk and Sparrow AIM-7. The problem is that the wings must be long enough to produce necessary lift. Canards : They work more effectively with great maneuverability on low angle of attack, and work the same way as fins.
Why do missiles typically have cylindrical fuselage and not a …
Oct 31, 2022 · With the proliferation of modern CFD methods for example, it becomes much easier to design more complex shapes. More modern missile designs may feature quadratic or triangular shapes, e.g. the AGM-86 ALCM (Air Launched Cruise Missile) as …
navigation - How do missiles navigate and determine their …
Apr 6, 2022 · It does. not even matter which way is up as losing altitude would cause the missile to drop below target (hence the target becomes above the missile) and thus automatically corrects the missile's attitude by steering onto target. Complicated IMUs are used more on cruise missiles and ICBMs that fly long ranges. $\endgroup$ –
Why do air forces still use bombers? - Aviation Stack Exchange
Sep 23, 2014 · Cruise missiles, such as the Tomahawk, have been used in very high risk situations where a downed aircraft and a captured pilot would be politically costly. However, cruise missiles can't deal very well with changing situations. A cruise missile can't tell if civilians have drifted into the target area, and abort the mission or choose another ...