Ballistic missiles can be launched from ships and land based facilities. The carriage of a deadly warhead is justified by the distance the missile travels. Ballistic missiles are categorised according to their range, maximum distance measured along the surface of earth's ellipsoid from the point of launch to the point of impact of the last element of their payload.
(ii) Ballistic Missile: A ballistic missile is a missile that has a ballistic trajectory over most of its flight path, regardless of whether or not it is a weapon-delivery vehicle. BrahMos Aerospace is also in the process of developing a hypersonic cruise missile, BRAHMOS-II, which would fly at a speed greater than 5 Mach. Many countries are working to develop hypersonic cruise missiles. Hypersonic cruise missile travels at a speed of more than 5 Mach.
BRAHMOS is the only known versatile supersonic cruise missile system which is in service. The combination of supersonic speed and warhead mass provides high kinetic energy ensuring tremendous lethal effect. The modular design of the missile and its capability of being launched at different orientations enable it to be integrated with a wide spectrum of platforms like warships, submarines, different types of aircraft, mobile autonomous launchers and silos. it travels a kilometre approximately in a second. Supersonic cruise missile travels at a speed of around 2-3 Mach i.e. Some other examples are Harpoon of USA and Exocet of France. The well-known subsonic missile is the American Tomahawk cruise missile. It travels at a speed of around 0.8 Mach. Subsonic cruise missile flies at a speed lesser than that of sound.
Cruise missiles can be categorised by size, speed (subsonic or supersonic), range and whether launched from land, air, surface ship or submarine.ĭepending upon the speed such missiles are classified as: These vehicles vary greatly in their speed and ability to penetrate defences. They fly within the earth’s atmosphere and use jet engine technology. (i) Cruise Missile: A cruise missile is an unmanned self-propelled (till the time of impact) guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or special payload on a target. Missiles are generally classified on the basis of their Type, Launch Mode, Range, Propulsion, Warhead and Guidance Systems.
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