cruise missile meaning in english

• More from M-W
• To save this word, you'll need to log in. Log In

cruise missile

Definition of cruise missile

Examples of cruise missile in a sentence.

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'cruise missile.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

1959, in the meaning defined above

Dictionary Entries Near cruise missile

cruise control

Cite this Entry

“Cruise missile.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cruise%20missile. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on cruise missile

Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about cruise missile

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!

Can you solve 4 words at once?

Word of the day.

See Definitions and Examples »

Get Word of the Day daily email!

Popular in Grammar & Usage

More commonly misspelled words, commonly misspelled words, how to use em dashes (—), en dashes (–) , and hyphens (-), absent letters that are heard anyway, how to use accents and diacritical marks, popular in wordplay, the words of the week - apr. 26, 9 superb owl words, 'gaslighting,' 'woke,' 'democracy,' and other top lookups, 10 words for lesser-known games and sports, your favorite band is in the dictionary, games & quizzes.

Advertisement

How Cruise Missiles Work

• Share Content on Facebook
• Share Content on LinkedIn
• Share Content on Flipboard
• Share Content on Reddit
• Share Content via Email

Tomahawk cruise missiles frequently appear in the news because they are the U.S. weapon of choice for a variety of quick-strike operations. With all of the missiles in the U.S. arsenal, have you ever wondered why cruise missiles seem to come up so often?

In this edition of HowStuffWorks , we will look at cruise missiles so that you can understand what they are, how they operate and why they are ideal for certain scenarios.

A cruise missile is basically a small, pilotless airplane . Cruise missiles have an 8.5-foot (2.61-meter) wingspan, are powered by turbofan engines and can fly 500 to 1,000 miles (805 to 1,610 km) depending on the configuration.

A cruise missile's job in life is to deliver a 1,000-pound (450-kg) high-explosive bomb to a precise location -- the target. The missile is destroyed when the bomb explodes. Since cruise missiles cost between $500,000 and $1,000,000 each, it's a fairly expensive way to deliver a 1,000-pound package.

Cruise missiles come in a number of variations (see the links at the end of the article for more information) and can be launched from submarines , destroyers or aircraft.

When you hear about hundreds of cruise missiles being fired at targets, they are almost always Tomahawk cruise missiles launched from destroyers.

Cruise missiles are 20 feet (6.25 meters) long and 21 inches (0.52 meters) in diameter. At launch, they include a 550-pound (250-kg) solid rocket booster and weigh 3,200 pounds (1450 kg).

The booster falls away once it has burned its fuel. The wings, tail fins and air inlet unfold, and the turbofan engine takes over.

This engine weighs just 145 pounds (65 kg) and produces 600 pounds of thrust burning RJ4 fuel. The fuel load is 800 to 1,000 pounds (about 450 kg) of fuel at launch, or approximately 150 gallons (600 liters). The missile has a cruising speed of 550 mph (880 kph).

The hallmark of a cruise missile is its incredible accuracy. A common statement made about the cruise missile is, "It can fly 1,000 miles and hit a target the size of a single-car garage." Cruise missiles are also very effective at evading detection by the enemy because they fly very low to the ground (out of the view of most radar systems ).

Four different systems help guide a cruise missile to its target:

• IGS - Inertial Guidance System
• Tercom - Terrain Contour Matching
• GPS - Global Positioning System
• DSMAC - Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation

The IGS is a standard acceleration-based system that can roughly keep track of where the missile is located based on the accelerations it detects in the missile's motion ( click here for a good introduction). Tercom uses an on-board 3-D database of the terrain the missile will be flying over. The Tercom system "sees" the terrain it is flying over using its radar system and matches this to the 3-D map stored in memory. The Tercom system is responsible for a cruise missile's ability to "hug the ground" during flight. The GPS system uses the military's network of GPS satellites and an onboard GPS receiver to detect its position with very high accuracy.

Once it is close to the target, the missile switches to a "terminal guidance system" to choose the point of impact. The point of impact could be pre-programmed by the GPS or Tercom system. The DSMAC system uses a camera and an image correlator to find the target, and is especially useful if the target is moving. A cruise missile can also be equipped with thermal imaging or illumination sensors (as used in smart bombs ).

Frequently Asked Questions

How do cruise missiles navigate to their target, what advancements have been made in cruise missile technology, lots more information, related articles.

• How Stinger Missiles Work
• How Sidewinder Missiles Work
• How Smart Bombs Work
• How MOAB Works
• How Patriot Missiles Work
• How Stealth Bombers Work
• How Apache Helicopters Work
• How F-15s Work
• How Airplanes Work
• How Gas Turbine Engines Work
• How Radar Works
• How GPS Receivers Work
• How Rocket Engines Work

More Great Links

• USAF Fact Sheet: AGM-86B/C Missiles
• U.S. navy Fact File: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• BBC News: NATO's firepower: The cruise missile
• Time.com: Tomahawk Cruise Missile
• Analysis: Tomahawks, Submarines and the F-111

Launch systems

• Arleigh Burke Class (AEGIS) Guided Missile Destroyers, USA
• SSN Los Angles Class Attack Submarine, USA - U.S. subs that launch cruise missiles
• SSN Astute Class Attack Submarine, UK - Royal Navy subs that launch cruise missiles
• B-52H Stratofortress Long-Range Multi-Role Bomber, USA
• B-2 Spirit Stealth Bomber, USA

Miscellaneous

• Williams F107-WR-101 Turbofan Engine
• Digital Imagery Workstation Suite (DIWS) - generates the Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC) reference scenes

Please copy/paste the following text to properly cite this HowStuffWorks.com article:

A Short History of Cruise Missiles: The Go-To Weapons for Conventional Precision Strikes

The slow, stubby-winged cruise missile has become a major part of modern warfare. This is its story.

• They’re not like other missiles; instead, cruise missiles work more like drones.
• Ironically, the inspiration for the first cruise missiles involved pilots—the infamous kamikazes of World War II .

One weapon that establishes a military power in a completely different category from the rest is the cruise missile. Originally designed to deliver nuclear weapons at long distances, it’s become the go-to weapon for conventional precision strikes, and is currently front and center in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

But as the cruise missile is now in its fifth decade of use, there are signs it’ll need some adjustments to stay relevant on the modern battlefield .

Divine Wind

A cruise missile is a subsonic guided missile that uses a turbojet, a smaller version of the jet engines that power today’s airplanes , to reach its targets. Cruise missiles often have small, stubby wings to allow them to bank and turn, following an invisible flight path in the sky. Modern cruise missiles use satellite navigation to guide themselves to target, and some can even take pictures of the target area, allowing operators to retarget them in midair. The missile’s payload is typically a warhead in the 1,000-pound weight class, often with the ability to penetrate earth and concrete to target underground shelters.

The first cruise missiles were Japan’s kamikaze planes of World War II. The kamikaze, or “divine wind,” was part of the Japanese Special Attack Units. Created out of desperation and meant to curb the inexorable advance of U.S. forces across the Pacific, kamikaze pilots were sent on one-way missions to target ships of the U.S. Pacific Fleet. The planes were loaded with explosives, and the pilots flew low and fast to avoid detection until the last possible moment.

Kamikaze missions were incredibly successful. In the first four months of their use, an estimated 34 percent of all kamikazes reached their targets. Much of their success is likely attributable to American forces’ disbelief that pilots could commit suicide for their mission. But the low-flying mission profile and the pilot’s ability to recognize threats and avoid them were also undoubtedly factors. In the 1970s, when U.S. military planners originally conceived of the cruise missile, the kamikazes were likely not far from anyone’s mind.

How Cruise Missiles Work

Cruise missiles were originally designed to carry nuclear weapons long distances, allowing bombers to strike their targets without entering the range of an adversary’s air-defense weapons. Conventional rocket-powered missiles didn’t fit the bill: rocket engines are designed to provide speed, and burn up fuel quickly. A cruise missile would need an enormous rocket engine to reach a distant target, with the result being a missile so big only a few would be able to fit inside a bomber.

Instead of rockets, engineers took a different tack: small turbofan engines that burn jet fuel. Turbofan engines are much more efficient, allowing a 21-foot-long missile to carry enough fuel to fly 1,000 miles, plus a 1,000-pound high-explosive warhead (or W-80 thermonuclear warhead ) and a guidance system. The downside was that a turbofan-powered cruise missile could not fly particularly fast, just about 500 miles per hour.

A subsonic cruise missile flying a straight flight path and unable to take evasive action would prove easy meat to any enemy interceptor that happened upon it. The first modern cruise missile, the American-made Tomahawk , was designed to fly low, less than 100 meters above the ground. This limited the range at which ground-based radars could detect a cruise missile, as radar waves conform to the curvature of Earth. This also frustrated enemy fighters, whose nose-mounted radars found it difficult to pick out a cruise missile against the clutter created by the ground below. While cruise missiles were too slow to become first-strike weapons, they were effective for retaliatory strikes against heavily defended airspace.

Early Tomahawk cruise missiles followed a pre-programmed flight path to target using a system called terrain contour matching (TERCOM). In TERCOM , a radar altimeter scans the terrain below the missile, then compares it to a terrain elevation map stored in its onboard computer brain. If the two match, the missile is on the right flight path; if they don’t match, the missile adjusts course. Programming TERCOM for a long-range mission was a notoriously time-consuming process, and had to be done at a computer terminal.

As the Tomahawk neared its target, it switched over to a completely different navigation system: digital scene matching and area correlation ( DSMAC ). DSMAC used an optical sensor that took pictures of the ground and compared them to actual sites on the final route to the target. Together, TERCOM and DSMAC delivered unheard of accuracy, allowing Tomahawks to fly hundreds of miles and strike specific parts of land targets, even specific parts of buildings.

More recent cruise missiles, including newer versions of the Tomahawk, have done away with the old navigation systems in favor of using GPS to guide themselves to a fixed target. This has had the effect of making an already accurate missile even more accurate—reportedly to within 32 feet of a target. The Tomahawk Block IV version, introduced in the 2010s, included a camera that could send back imagery to the missile’s controllers, allowing a missile to be re-tasked in midair if its target was already destroyed. Block Va, the latest version, adds the ability to target and attack moving ships at sea.

The Tomahawk missile was the first cruise missile fired in anger. U.S. Navy warships fired a total of 288 Tomahawks during Operation Desert Storm in 1991. Tomahawk missiles have also been fired at Bosnia, Sudan, Syria , Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Afghanistan. U.S. and U.K. forces have delivered just over 2,000 Tomahawk missiles against operational targets, with more than half against Iraq.

In recent years, other countries have also used cruise missiles in combat. In October 2017, Russia began cruise missile strikes against so-called terrorist targets in Syria. These Novator 3M14 Kalibr cruise missiles are very similar to Tomahawk missiles, but use Russia’s GLONASS satellite navigation system, an alternative to the American GPS. Russia has launched a steady stream of air- and sea-launched cruise missiles against Ukraine since the early hours of the invasion on February 24, 2022 , but a shrinking missile stockpile has led to the attacks becoming less frequent, supplemented by Iranian-made kamikaze drones.

The war in Ukraine has also seen the use of two European cruise missiles, the U.K.’s Storm Shadow and the French SCALP missile . The two are essentially the same, with a 340-mile range and 990-pound warhead. The missiles donated to Ukraine are launched from specially modified Su-24 Soviet-era strike jets . Storm Shadow/SCALP was also used against the Khaddafi regime in Libya in 2011, ISIS in 2015, and by Saudi Arabia against Yemeni rebels in 2016.

The Russo-Ukrainian War has also confirmed an important, long suspected fact: low-flying, subsonic cruise missiles are vulnerable to man-portable surface-to-air missiles. In 2022, a Ukrainian National Guardsman was filmed shooting down a Russian cruise missile with an Igla surface-to-air missile. It was the first known case of a shoulder-fired missile, typically carried by infantry, shooting down a multi-million dollar cruise missile. How this event will affect future cruise missiles remains to be seen.

The Takeaway

Cruise missiles have dramatically changed warfare, as one might expect from a weapon that can fly 1,000 miles and deliver a half-ton high-explosive warhead within 32 feet of a target. The missiles allow countries that can afford them the ability to execute precision strikes on heavily defended targets without endangering pilots or aircraft.

The war in Ukraine will likely impart lessons on the next generation of cruise missiles , but the platform isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

Kyle Mizokami is a writer on defense and security issues and has been at Popular Mechanics since 2015. If it involves explosions or projectiles, he's generally in favor of it. Kyle’s articles have appeared at The Daily Beast, U.S. Naval Institute News, The Diplomat, Foreign Policy, Combat Aircraft Monthly, VICE News , and others. He lives in San Francisco.

.css-cuqpxl:before{padding-right:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;} Pop Mech Pro .css-xtujxj:before{padding-left:0.3125rem;content:'//';display:inline;}

US Army Accepts Delivery of First M10 Assault Gun

Underwater UFO is a Threat, Says Ex-Navy Officer

DIY Car Key Programming: Why Pay the Dealer?

Use Induction Heat to Break Free Rusted Bolts

How to Replace Your Car’s Brakes

The Air Force is Resurrecting a B-1 Bomber

Who Killed Harry Houdini?

A New Hypersonic Missile Will Give the F-35 Fangs

The Navy’s New Drone Could Turn into a Ship-Killer

The CIA’s Secret Plan to Turn Psychics Into Spies

Is This the Real Iceberg That Sank the Titanic?

Words and phrases

Personal account.

• Access or purchase personal subscriptions
• Get our newsletter
• Save searches
• Set display preferences

Institutional access

Sign in with library card

Sign in with username / password

Recommend to your librarian

Institutional account management

Sign in as administrator on Oxford Academic

cruise missile noun

• Hide all quotations

What does the noun cruise missile mean?

There is one meaning in OED's entry for the noun cruise missile . See ‘Meaning & use’ for definition, usage, and quotation evidence.

Entry status

OED is undergoing a continuous programme of revision to modernize and improve definitions. This entry has not yet been fully revised.

How common is the noun cruise missile ?

Where does the noun cruise missile come from.

Earliest known use

The earliest known use of the noun cruise missile is in the 1950s.

OED's earliest evidence for cruise missile is from 1959, in Aviation Week .

cruise missile is formed within English, by compounding.

Etymons: cruise n. , missile n.

Nearby entries

• cruentous, adj. 1648–1882
• cruet, n. c1290–
• cruet-stand, n. 1716–
• Cruft, n.¹ 1910–
• cruft, n.² 1959–
• crufty, adj. 1981–
• crug, n. 1820–
• cruise, n. 1706–
• cruise, v. 1651–
• cruise control, n. 1949–
• cruise missile, n. 1959–
• cruiser, n. 1679–
• cruiser stern, n. 1915–
• cruiser tank, n. 1940–
• cruiser-weight, n. 1920–
• cruiseway, n. 1967–
• cruising, n. 1690–
• cruising radius, n. 1927–
• cruising range, n. 1922–
• cruising speed, n. 1919–
• cruive, n. ?a1500–

Thank you for visiting Oxford English Dictionary

To continue reading, please sign in below or purchase a subscription. After purchasing, please sign in below to access the content.

Meaning & use

Entry history for cruise missile, n..

Originally published as part of the entry for cruise, n.

cruise, n. was first published in 1893; not yet revised.

Revision of the OED is a long-term project. Entries in oed.com which have not been revised may include:

• corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates;
• new senses, phrases, and quotations which have been added in subsequent print and online updates.

Earlier versions of this entry were published in:

A Supplement to the OED, Volume I (1972)

• Find out more

OED Second Edition (1989)

• View cruise, n. in OED Second Edition

Please submit your feedback for cruise missile, n.

Please include your email address if you are happy to be contacted about your feedback. OUP will not use this email address for any other purpose.

Citation details

Factsheet for cruise missile, n., browse entry.

• Daily Crossword
• Word Puzzle
• Word Finder
• Word of the Day
• Synonym of the Day
• Word of the Year
• Language stories
• All featured
• Gender and sexuality
• All pop culture
• Grammar Coach ™
• Writing hub
• Grammar essentials
• Commonly confused
• All writing tips
• Pop culture
• Writing tips

Advertisement

cruise missile

• a winged guided missile designed to deliver a conventional or nuclear warhead by flying at low altitudes to avoid detection by radar.
• an air-breathing low-flying subsonic missile that is continuously powered and guided throughout its flight and carries a warhead
• A military missile equipped with an onboard computer that allows it to guide itself on a preprogrammed course over long distances by sensing the terrain and comparing it to maps stored in its memory. ( See smart weapons (see also smart weapons ).)

Discover More

Compare meanings.

How does cruise missile compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• cruise missile vs. ballistic missile

Example Sentences

When the United States and its cruise missiles arrived, major construction started at the base.

North Korea has built cruise missiles before, but none with the range of the weapons in their weekend test.

These troops are joined by a steady increase in warplanes, attack helicopters, tanks, cruise missiles and all the other matériel necessary for a conventional invasion.

Its 24 heavyweight weapons, naval cruise missiles, F21 torpedoes, and anti-ship missiles, would be launched from both torpedo tubes on the sides and at the rear of the vessel.

Ships bells, submarine periscopes, cruise missiles and huge Civil War guns are among them.

The decision to rebuild the nuclear triad includes a new long-range cruise missile.

He also warned that cruise missile strikes on Hezbollah forces in Syria would invite a response.

And how much better will Americans feel if a cruise missile hits an apartment building?

The U.S. campaign in Yemen has used conventional weaponry on occasion: sorties by Harriers and even some cruise-missile strikes.

Bin Laden benefited enormously from surviving the cruise missile attack that targeted him in 1998.

The cruise missile production which will begin next year will modernize our strategic air deterrent.

• Dictionaries home
• American English
• Collocations
• German-English
• Grammar home
• Practical English Usage
• Learn & Practise Grammar (Beta)
• Word Lists home
• My Word Lists
• Recent additions
• Resources home
• Text Checker

Definition of missile noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

• nuclear missiles
• a missile base/site
• declare/​make/​wage war (on somebody/​something)
• go to war (against/​with somebody)
• cause/​spark/​provoke/​foment/​quell unrest
• incite/​lead/​crush/​suppress a revolt/​rebellion
• launch/​mount/​carry out a surprise/​terrorist attack
• prevent/​halt/​represent an escalation of the conflict
• be torn apart by/​be on the brink of civil war
• enter/​invade/​occupy somebody’s territory
• lead/​launch/​resist/​repel an invasion
• adopt/​develop/​implement/​pursue a military strategy
• carry out/​execute/​perform military operations/​manoeuvres
• send/​deploy/​station/​pull back/​withdraw troops
• go on/​fly/​carry out a reconnaissance/​rescue mission
• train/​equip/​deploy army/​military/​combat units
• lead/​launch/​conduct a raid/​a surprise attack/​an (air/​airborne/​amphibious) assault (on somebody)
• employ/​use guerrilla tactics
• conduct/​wage biological/​guerrilla warfare
• fight/​crush/​defeat the rebels/​the insurgency
• suffer/​inflict a crushing defeat
• achieve/​win a decisive victory
• halt/​stop the British/​German/​Russian advance
• order/​force a retreat
• join/​serve in the army/​navy/​air force
• be/​go/​remain/​serve on active duty
• serve/​complete/​return from a tour of duty
• be sent to the front (line)
• attack/​strike/​engage/​defeat/​kill/​destroy the enemy
• see/​report/​be engaged in heavy fighting
• call for/​be met with armed resistance
• come under heavy/​machine-gun/​mortar fire
• fire a machine-gun/​mortar shells/​rockets (at somebody/​something)
• shoot a rifle/​a pistol/​bullets/​missiles
• launch/​fire a cruise/​ballistic/​anti-tank missile
• use biological/​chemical/​nuclear weapons
• inflict/​suffer/​sustain heavy losses/​casualties
• be hit/​killed by enemy/​friendly/​artillery fire
• become/​be held as a prisoner of war
• harm/​kill/​target/​protect innocent/​unarmed civilians
• cause/​avoid/​limit/​minimize civilian casualties/​collateral damage
• impose/​enforce/​lift a curfew
• engage in/​be a victim of ethnic cleansing
• be sent to an internment/​a concentration camp
• accept/​house/​resettle refugees fleeing from war
• fear/​threaten military/​violent reprisals
• commit/​be accused of war crimes/​crimes against humanity/​genocide
• make/​bring/​win/​achieve/​maintain/​promote peace
• call for/​negotiate/​broker/​declare a ceasefire/​a temporary truce
• sign a ceasefire agreement
• call for/​bring/​put an end to hostilities
• demand/​negotiate/​accept the surrender of somebody/​something
• establish/​send (in) a peacekeeping force
• negotiate/​conclude/​ratify/​sign/​accept/​reject/​break/​violate a peace treaty
• Missiles fell on the city.
• missiles targeting the capital
• strategic missiles deployed in sparsely populated desert areas
• medium-range
• short-range
• be armed with
• destroy something
• hit something

Take your English to the next level

The Oxford Learner’s Thesaurus explains the difference between groups of similar words. Try it for free as part of the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary app

Prelims 2024 CA | 2024 Test Series | March Monthly Compilations | Daily CA | Daily MCQs

Ballistic Missile vs. Cruise Missile, India’s Missile Systems, IGMDP

• August 2, 2019
• Indigenous Defence Technology , Science & Technology

Subscribe to Never Miss an Important Update! Assured Discounts on New Products!

Must Join PMF IAS Telegram Channel & PMF IAS History Telegram Channel

We frequently notice news related to ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and various missile systems of India. Memorizing names and salient features of various Indian missiles is hard without having a broader understanding of the concept of ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, and major missile defence systems. It is better to give these concepts a holistic structure rather than learning them in bits and pieces.

Ballistic Missile vs. Cruise Missile

The Hindu | GS3 > indigenization of technology

The terms ‘ballistic missile’ and ‘cruise missile’ appear in news articles wherever there is a missile test. It is essential for us to understand these terms to understand various Indian missile defence systems.

Ballistic Missile

• A ballistic missile follows a ballistic trajectory to deliver one or more warheads on a predetermined target.
• A ballistic trajectory is the path of an object that is launched but has no active propulsion during its actual flight (these weapons are guided only during relatively brief periods of flight).
• Consequently, the trajectory is fully determined by a given initial velocity, effects of gravity, air resistance, and motion of the earth (Coriolis Force).

Image Credits: Wikipedia

• Shorter range ballistic missiles stay within the Earth’s atmosphere.
• Longer-ranged intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs), are launched on a sub-orbital flight trajectory and spend most of their flight out of the atmosphere.

Types of ballistic missiles based on the range

• Short-range (tactical) ballistic missile (SRBM): Range between 300 km and 1,000 km.
• Medium-range (theatre) ballistic missile (MRBM): 1,000 km to 3,500 km.
• Intermediate-range (Long-Range) ballistic missile (IRBM or LRBM): 3,500 km and 5,500 km.
• Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM): 5,500 km +

Cruise missile

• A cruise missile is a guided missile (target has to be pre-set) used against terrestrial targets.
• It remains in the atmosphere throughout its flight.
• It flies the major portion of its flight path at approximately constant speed.
• Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision.
• Modern cruise missiles are capable of travelling at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and are able to fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory.

Types of cruise missiles based on speed

• Hypersonic (Mach 5): these missiles would travel at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5). E.g. BrahMos-II.
• Supersonic (Mach 2-3): these missiles travel faster than the speed of sound. E.g. BrahMos.
• Subsonic (Mach 0.8): these missiles travel slower than the speed of sound. E.g. Nirbhay.

Differences between Ballistic Missile and Cruise Missile

Integrated guided missile development programme (igmdp).

PIB | Source | The Hindu | 19-06-2019 | GS3 > indigenization of technology

• IGMDP was conceived by Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam to enable India attain self-sufficiency in missile technology.
• IGMDP was conceived in response to the Missile Technology Control Regime that decided to restrict access to any technology that would help India in its missile development program.
• To counter the MTCR, the IGMDP team formed a consortium of DRDO laboratories, industries and academic institutions to build these sub-systems, components and materials.
• IGMDP was started in 1983 and completed in March 2012.
• Keeping in mind the requirements of various types of missiles by the defence forces, the development of five missile systems was taken up.
• Prithvi: Short-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile (Prithivi means Earth Surface to Surface)
• Agni: Intermediate-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile
• Trishul: Short-range low-level surface-to-air missile
• Akash: Medium-range surface-to-air missile (Akash means Sky Surface to Air)
• Nag: Third generation anti-tank missile (Nag means Snake Nag slithers like a Snake to hit a tank!)
• After its success, the Agni missile program was separated from the IGMDP upon realizing its strategic importance.

India’s Missile Systems

PIB | Source | The Hindu | GS3 > indigenization of technology

SLBM: Sub-marine launched ballistic missile

Prithvi Missiles

All the Prithvi variants are surface-to-surface SRBMs.

Agni Missiles

MIRV: Multiple Independently targetable Re-entry Vehicle

Anti-satellite weapons (ASAT)

• In March 2019, India successfully tested its ASAT missile.
• The ASAT missile destroyed a live satellite in Low Earth orbit (283-kilometre).
• As per DRDO, the missile is capable of shooting down targets moving at a speed of 10 km per second at an altitude as high as 1200 km.

Newsletter Updates

Assured Discounts on our New Products!

Related Posts

Genome, Whole Genome Sequencing, Genome India Project

• June 4, 2021

Kepler’s laws, Satellite Orbits, Launch Vehicles PSLV & GSLV

• December 3, 2020

Nuclear Fission, Components of Nuclear Reactor, Types of Nuclear Reactors

• January 2, 2020

Precision Farming, Geoinformatics for Precision Farming

• November 30, 2019

India’s Three-Stage Nuclear Power Programme

• March 21, 2016

Uranium & Thorium Distribution across India & World

• April 6, 2020

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance & Magnetic Resonance Imaging

• May 11, 2021

Lithium-ion battery, Internal Combustion Engine vs. Electric Vehicles

• November 9, 2019

wonderful sir

Thanks a lot for this fantastic compilation sir!

I was unable to find such complied information on internet, but I found it here. Thanks a lot to PMFIAS

Thanks a lot

What a work sirji. Thank you so much

Thanks for very useful information and systematic content is systematic view of point very fantastic please keep it up latest update by geneon source like Hindu PIB arc etc

Leave a Reply Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Name  *

Email  *

Add Comment  *

Post Comment

Trending now

Never miss an important update!

• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Meaning of missile in English

Your browser doesn't support HTML5 audio

• These guns will destroy or disable any incoming missile.
• President Kennedy made his reputation with his handling of the Cuban missile crisis .
• The missile homed in on the ship .
• The new missile is faster and more manoeuvrable than previous models .
• The missile strike was devastating - the target was totally obliterated .
• anti-missile
• anti-satellite
• mushroom cloud
• neutron bomb
• non-conventional
• surface-to-air missile
• test ban treaty

missile | American Dictionary

Translations of missile.

Get a quick, free translation!

Word of the Day

doggie day care

a place where owners can leave their dogs when they are at work or away from home in the daytime, or the care the dogs receive when they are there

Dead ringers and peas in pods (Talking about similarities, Part 2)

Learn more with +Plus

• Recent and Recommended {{#preferredDictionaries}} {{name}} {{/preferredDictionaries}}
• Definitions Clear explanations of natural written and spoken English English Learner’s Dictionary Essential British English Essential American English
• Grammar and thesaurus Usage explanations of natural written and spoken English Grammar Thesaurus
• Pronunciation British and American pronunciations with audio English Pronunciation
• English–Chinese (Simplified) Chinese (Simplified)–English
• English–Chinese (Traditional) Chinese (Traditional)–English
• English–Dutch Dutch–English
• English–French French–English
• English–German German–English
• English–Indonesian Indonesian–English
• English–Italian Italian–English
• English–Japanese Japanese–English
• English–Norwegian Norwegian–English
• English–Polish Polish–English
• English–Portuguese Portuguese–English
• English–Spanish Spanish–English
• English–Swedish Swedish–English
• Dictionary +Plus Word Lists
• English    Noun
• American    Noun
• Translations
• All translations

Add missile to one of your lists below, or create a new one.

{{message}}

Something went wrong.

There was a problem sending your report.