Cruise Missiles

■ Cruise missiles (CMs) are pilotless vehicles

powered by jet engines:
• Fly within the atmosphere
• Speeds are subsonic
■ Cruise missiles conceived 60 years ago,
militarily useful CMs built in late 1970s:
• Smaller and lighter nuclear warheads
• Efficient turbofan engines
• Highly capable miniaturized computers
• GPS, Tercom, and terminal guidance
• “Stealth” airframe technology
 Cruise Missiles
■ Key properties
– Small
– Easily stored and launched
– Highly penetrating
– Versatile
– Highly accurate
– Very cheap (about ~ $1 million per copy)
Cruise Missiles
Launching Cruise Missiles
Launching Cruise Missiles
Cruise-Missile Guidance
 Long-Range Cruise Missiles

Conventionally­Armed Tomahawk Cruise Missile
Cruise-Missile Guidance
 TERCOM
■ Terrain Contour Matching (TERCOM)
navigation system uses an on-board contour
map of the terrain that a cruise missile will be
flying over.
■ The system "sees" the terrain it is flying over
using its radar system and matches this to
the map stored in memory.
■ Considerably increases the accuracy of a
missile compared to the older and simpler
Inertial navigation system (INS).
 TERCOM
■ Tercom system also allows a missile to fly
lower, making it harder to detect by ground
radar.
■ Employed together with the inertial navigation
system. The inertial navigation system
provides a rough positional information.
■ Comparing the contour map with the actual
contour reading provided by the radar, the
Tercom obtains estimate of the position.
Information is fed back to the INS. This
combined system is called the TAINS.
 DSMAC

■ Another navigation system employed by

cruise missiles is the Digital Scene-Mapping
Area Correlator (DSMAC).

■ A DSMAC system compares a photograph of

the target with the picture provided by an
onboard camera, providing a further increase
in accuracy.
 Satellite Navigation

■ Another way to navigate a cruise missile is by

using a satellite positioning system.

■ The GPS-based (or GLONASS-based)

navigation is useful in a conflict with a
technologically unsophisticated adversary.
Cruise-Missile Guidance
Accuracy of Cruise Missiles
 Guided Missiles
■ Specifications: Raduga Kh-55
■ Soviet/ Russian subsonic long-range cruise missile
• Length: 6.04 m (19 ft 7 in)
• Width: 0.77 m
• Diameter: 514 mm (20.24 in)
• Wingspan: 3.10 m (10 ft 1 in)
• Launch weight: 1185 kg
• Warhead: 200 kt nuclear
• Guidance: inertial with Doppler radar/terrain map
updates
• Maximum speed: 720..830 km/h, approximately Mach
0.77
• Range: 3,000 km (1,860 mi) (Kh-55: 2500 km)
• Launch altitude: 200 m .. 10 km
 Guided Missiles
■ Babur Cruise Missile/Hatf VII
■ Type: medium-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile
■ Manufacturer: National Defence Complex (NDC)
■ Specifications:
– Weight <1500 kg payload=>300kg
– Length 6.25 m with booster= 7 m
– Diameter 0.52 m Warhead Conventional and Nuclear
Engine turbo-fan and a solid-fuel booster
Wingspan 2.67 m
– Operational Range 700 km or 435 mi Speed 880 km/h or
550 mph(0.8mach)
– Guidance System GPS, TERCOM , DSMAC, INS
– Launch Platform transporter erector launcher (TEL)
 Guided Missiles
■ DH-10
■ Specifications:
■ Warhead Nuclear, high-explosive conventional, EMP, cluster
bombs, possibly anthrax
■ Detonation mechanism timed plastic explosive
■ Engine turbofan
■ Operational range >2000+ km
■ Flight ceiling about 10,000 feet Flight altitude about 10,000 feet
Speed ?
■ Guidance system INS, GPS, TERCOM, DSMAC Launch
platform ?
 Guided Missiles
■ Nirbhay
■ Type Long-range, all-weather, subsonic cruise missile
Place of origin India
■ Specifications:
■ Weight 1000 kg
■ Length 6 m
■ Diameter 0.52 m
■ Operational
range 1000 km
■ Speed 0.7 mach
Tomahawks in Action
 Tomahawk layout
■ LENGTH: 5.56 meters (18ft)
■ WEIGHT: 1,300kg (aprox 2,200 lbs)
■ WING SPAN: 2.67 meters (nearly
9ft)
■ RANGE: 1,600km
■ SPEED: 880km/h (550mph)
■ 1. Infrared imagery sensor
2. "DSMAC" guidance system
3. Data/Communications link
4. 1,000lb conventional warhead
5. "DSMAC" illuminator
6. Fuel cell
7. "TERCOM" terrain matching
system
8. Turbojet subsonic engine

Source: BBC
 Tomahawk – GPS’ Job
■ Cruise missiles receive
an initial thrust from a
detachable booster
before onboard systems
take over. Once airborne,
it releases its wings and
switches on navigational
and communication
systems.
■ The missile is guided at
this early stage by GPS
and onboard calculations
based on its movements
since launch.
Tomahawk – TERCOM
■ TERCOM – Terrain
Contour Matching
■ Tomahawk missiles
carries a 3-D map of its
route.
■ In theory, TERCOM
allows cruise missiles to
avoid detection.
Tomahawk - DSMAC
■ DSMAC – Digital Scene
Matching Area
Correlation
■ Basically a search and
destroy system
■ Only as good as the
intelligence that the
system is based on
■ Most accurate of all
guidance systems used in
cruise missiles
Tomahawk – Final Destination
■ US military claims
missiles are 90%
accurate.
■ 1,000lb warhead
detonates
Tomahawk – Future Outlook
■ Improved Target
recognition and
improved efficiency
with missiles

■ Missile re-routing

■ Send live images back

to base