How does cruise missiles work?

Perhaps many times you have heard about Tomahawk cruise missiles appearing on news and television sites. This is the strategic weapon of the United States and the first choice for quick attacks . The United States has the most advanced arsenal in the world, but why does cruise missiles always appear dense compared to other weapons?

Let me introduce you to the article which provides an overview and details of cruise missiles, how it works and why they are so ideal in certain situations.

Start with the basics

The cruise missile is basically a small and unmanned aircraft, usually with a wingspan of about 2.61 meters, equipped with jet engines and can fly from 805km to 1610km depending on configuration. .

Cruise missiles are basically a small and unmanned aircraft.

The mission of a cruise missile is to bring a large bomb with a destructive power of about 450kg to the target. The missile will be completely destroyed when the bomb explodes. Because cruise missiles are very expensive, ranging from $ 500,000 to $ 1,000,000 each, this is a costly measure.

Cruise missiles have a number of variations and can be launched from submarines, destroyers or aircraft. When you hear about hundreds of cruise missiles fired at targets, it is almost always the Tomahawk type launched from destroyers.

Is the cruise missile big?

Cruise missiles are usually about 6.25 meters long and about 0.52 meters in diameter. When launched, they consist of solid fuel boosters (about 250kg) and weigh about 1.45 tons. The rocket will leave when the rocket's fuel is burned. Then the wings, tail and air intake open, and the jet engine works.

The engine weighs only 65kg and generates thrust equivalent to 270kg to burn RJ4 fuel. Fuel is loaded at 450kg or approximately 600 liters at startup. When flying, missiles have a speed of about 880 km / hour.

Cruise missiles have a number of variations and can be launched from submarines, destroyers or aircraft.

How does the cruise missile's navigation system work?

The most special feature of a cruise missile is the incredible accuracy . They can fly 1000 miles away and accurately identify a small target. Besides cruise missiles are also very effective in evading the detection of enemies because they fly very low near the ground, out of sight of most radar systems.

Each cruise missile is made up of four different systems to help reach the target including: inertial navigation system (IGS), global positioning system (GPS), navigation system based on Terrain change (Tercom) and digital correlation comparison system (DSMAC).

The most special feature of a cruise missile is the incredible accuracy.

IGS is a standard acceleration system that can track missile position based on motion. Meanwhile Tercom uses a 3-D database on the terrain that the rocket will fly over. Tercom system "sees" the terrain using radar systems and connecting to 3-D maps stored in memory. Tercom will be responsible in case of "yard" cruise missiles when flying. The GPS system uses military networks from GPS satellites and a GPS receiver on a rocket to detect its location with very high accuracy.

When approaching the target, the missile switched to the "terminal guide system" to select the impact points. These points can be pre-programmed by GPS or Tercom system. The DSMAC system uses a camera and a correlated image to find the target, and is especially useful in case the target is moving. A cruise missile can also be equipped with image sensors or heat lighting as in smart bombs.