巡航導彈

In the period between the World Wars, the British developed the Larynx (Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine) which had a handful of flight tests in the 1920s. But it was Germany that would first deploy cruise missiles, during 第二次世界大戰. Introduced in 1944年, the German V-1 was the first weapon to use the classic cruise missile layout of a bomb-like fuselage, short wings, a dorsally mounted engine, and a simple inertial guidance system. The V-1 was propelled by a crude pulse-jet engine, the sound of which gave the V-1 its nickname of "doodle bug". However, the V-1 was not particularly accurate. The V-1 and similar early weapons are often referred to as 飛彈s. Also in World War II, the Imperial Japanese forces, in an effort to gain a tactical advantage against the allies, resorted to utilizing bomb-carrying conventional aircraft as kamikazes, which were supplemented by the purpose-built and piloted rocket engined Ohka, itself another early predecessor to the super-accurate cruise missiles of today.

Immediately following the war, the USAF had 21 different guided missile projects including would-be cruise missiles. Budget cuts forced cancellations leading to just four missile programs in 1948: the Air Material Command BANSHEE, the SM-62 Snark, the SM-64 Navaho, and the MGM-1 Matador. The BANSHEE design was similar to Operation Aphrodite, and like Aphrodite it failed and was soon cancelled in April 1949^[1].

During the 冷戰, both美國 and the Soviet Union experimented further with the concept, deploying early cruise missiles from land, submarines and aircraft.

The main outcome of美國海軍submarine missile project was the SSM-N-8 Regulus missile, based upon the V-1.

The U.S. Air Force's first operational surface-to-surface missile was the winged, mobile, nuclear-capable MGM-1 Matador, also similar in concept to the V-1. Deployment to overseas operating locations began in 1954年. The Matador was first deployed to西德and then later to the 中華民國 (台灣)與南韓. 1956年11月7日, 美國空軍Matador units in西德, whose missiles were capable of striking targets in the Warsaw Pact, deployed from their fixed day-to-day sites to unannounced dispersed launch locations. This alert was in response to the crisis posed by the major Soviet attack on Hungary which brutally suppressed the Hungarian Revolution.

Between 1957 and 1961 the United States followed an ambitious and well-funded program to develop a nuclear-powered cruise missile, Project Pluto. It was designed to fly below the enemy's radar at speeds 超過3馬赫數and carry a number of 氫彈s that it would drop on its path over enemy territory. Although the concept was proven sound and the 500 megawatt engine finished a successful test run in 1961年, no airworthy device was ever completed. The project was finally abandoned in favor of ICBM development.

While ballistic missiles were the preferred weapons for land targets, heavy nuclear and conventional tipped cruise missiles were seen by 美國空軍as a primary weapon to destroy US carrier battle groups. Large submarines (e.g. Echo and Oscar classes) were developed to carry these weapons and shadow US battle groups at sea, and large bombers (e.g. Tu-22M, Tu-95及Tu-160 models) were equipped with the weapons in their air launched cruise missile (ALCM) configuration.

空氣動力學

巡航導彈飛行的空氣動力學原理與飛機非常相似,包括對機翼的使用.

引擎

大多數巡航導彈使用噴氣式發動機,這其中又以渦輪扇引擎最為普遍,原因在於其較高的燃料效率.

導航

The lowest cost system in wide use uses a radar altimeter, barometric altimeter and clock to navigate a digital strip map^{[來源請求]}. Some systems may now use satellite navigation or inertial guidance, but these are substantially more expensive^{[來源請求]}, and 全球定位系統 systems are only slightly more accurate than a map-based system (TERCOM)^{[來源請求]}. Anti-ship cruise missiles like the RGM-84 Harpoon or the SS-N-12 Sandbox may also employ infrared or radar guidance.

分類

Cruise missiles can be categorized according to many criteria. It is convenient to categorize them by size, speed (subsonic or supersonic), and range. Often, the same missile is adopted for different launch platforms (land, sea, or air). Sometimes, the air- and submarine-launched versions are a bit lighter and smaller than their land- and ship-launched cousins.

Guidance systems can vary across missiles, but often the same missile comes in several variants, each with a different navigation system (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.

超音速

Hypersonic cruise missiles fly at extreme high speed. 超音速巡弋飛彈以極高的速度飛行。

例子:

• Brahmos-2 (India/Russia) (Deployed)

超音速

These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, usually using ramjet engines. The range is typically 100-500km, but can be greater. Guidance systems vary.

例子:

• SLAM (not to be confused with the SLAM cruise missile) and SM-64 Navaho were U.S. early-cold-war era projects for strategic long-range cruise missiles. Neither was accepted into service.
• P-500 Bazalt (Soviet Union/俄國)
• P-270 Moskit (Soviet Union/俄國)
• P-800 Oniks (Soviet Union)
• P-700 Granit (Soviet Union/俄國)
• PJ-10 BrahMos (India/Russia)

長程亞音速

This is a popular category for cruise missiles. Several missiles of this type were developed by 美國及蘇聯. These missiles have a range of 1,000 or more kilometers and fly at about 800km/h. The missiles in this category typically have a launch weight of about 1,500kg. These missiles can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. Earlier versions of these missiles had inertial navigation. Later, TERCOM and DSMAC systems were added to dramatically improve accuracy. Most recent versions can use satellite navigation.

例子:

• AGM-86B (United States)
• BGM-109 Tomahawk (美國)
• Kh-55 Granat (蘇聯)
• Hyunmoo IIIC (South Korea)

中程亞音速

These missiles are about the same size and weight as the above category. They also travel at about the same speed, but the range is (officially)^{[來源請求]} less than 1,000km. Guidance systems vary.

例子:

• Taurus KEPD 350 (德國/瑞典)
• Storm Shadow/SCALP (英國/法國)
• Babur (巴基斯坦)
• Ra'ad ALCM (巴基斯坦)
• Hyunmoo IIIA/B (南韓)

短程

These missiles weigh around 500kg and have range of 70-300km. Their speed is subsonic. Navigation systems are usually more simple than those of larger missiles. In fact, the word "cruise" is not always applied to these missiles.

例子:

• AGM-84 Harpoon (美國)
• C-802 (中國)
• Exocet (法國)
• SS-N-25 Switchblade (Kh-35 Uran) (Russia)
• RBS15 (瑞典/德國)

應用

The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and dams. Modern guidance system permit precise attacks.

(As of 2001) the BGM-109 Tomahawk missile model has become a significant part of the US naval arsenal. It gives ships and submarines an extremely accurate, long-range, conventional land attack weapon. Each costs about $1,900,000 USD. The 美國空軍 deploys an air launched cruise missile, the AGM-86. It can be launched from bombers like the B-52 Stratofortress. Both the Tomahawk and the AGM-86 were used extensively during Operation Desert Storm. The 英國 Royal Navy (RN) also operates cruise missiles, specifically the Tomahawk, used by the RN's nuclear submarine fleet. Conventional warhead versions were first fired in combat by the RN in 1999年, during the Kosovo War.

Both Tomahawk (as AGM-109) and ALCM (AGM-86) were competing designs for the USAF ALCM nuclear tipped cruise missile to be carried by the B-52.^{[來源請求]} The USAF adopted the AGM-86 for its bomber fleet while AGM-109 was adapted to launch from trucks and ships and adopted by the USAF and Navy. The truck launched versions were later destroyed under the bilateral INF (Intermediate Range Nuclear Forces) treaty with the USSR which also saw the end of the Pershing II and SS-20 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles.

India and 俄羅斯 have jointly developed the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos. There are three versions of the Brahmos: ship/land-launched, air-launched and sub-launched. The ship/land-launched version is operational whereas the air-launched and sub-launched versions are under development. The Brahmos has the capability to attack targets on land. Russia also continues to operate several other cruise missiles, like the SS-N-12 Sandbox, SS-N-19 Shipwreck, SS-N-22 Sunburn and SS-N-25 Switchblade. The 英國 and France operate the Storm Shadow, Germany and Spain the Taurus missile while Pakistan has developed its own cruise missile somewhat similar to Tomahawk cruise missile, named the Babur missile. Both the 中華人民共和國 and the 中華民國 (台灣) have also designed several cruise missile variants, such as the well-known C-802, some of which are capable of carrying biological, chemical, nuclear, and conventional warheads.

可載核彈頭

The US has 460 AGM-129 Advanced Cruise Missiles (ACMs) with a W80 nuclear warhead (5KT or 150KT selectable yield) for B-52 Stratofortress (B-52H) external carriage. Also there are ca. 350 sea-launched cruise missiles with the same nuclear warhead. The range of the missile is 3000 km. They all remain in storage.

The SSM-N-8 Regulus was also designed for a nuclear warhead.

See also:

• The United States and weapons of mass destruction
• Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
• Woensdrecht

Russia has Kh-55SM cruise missiles, with similar to US AGM-129 range of 3000 km, but are able to carry more powerful warhead of 200 kt.

在現代戰事中的效益

Cruise missiles are among the most expensive of single-use weapons, up to several million dollars apiece. One consequence of this is that its users face difficult choices in targeting, to avoid expending the missiles on targets of low value. For instance, Operation Enduring Freedom, the United States struck targets of very low monetary value with cruise missiles, which led many to question the efficiency of the weapon. However, proponents of the cruise missile counter that the same counterargument applies to cruise missiles as to other types of UAVs. That is, cruise missiles are still cheaper than human pilots when total training and infrastructure costs are taken into account^{[來源請求]}, not to mention the intrinsic value that the military forces would likely place on a human pilot's life.