How Much Damage Can A Cruise Missile Cause?

This page analyzes the destructive cost of different missile warhead payloads, providing an estimated range of explosion with estimated medical, fiscal, and humanitarian costs for each payload type. Cruise missiles are unmanned vehicles propelled by jet engines, similar to airplanes, and can be launched from ground, air, or sea platforms. They can use multiple guidance methods to accurately place their ordinance on the desired target and avoid missile defense systems.

Cruise missiles are capable of traveling at high subsonic, supersonic speeds, remain within the atmosphere for the duration of their flight, and can fly as low as a few meters off the ground. They are distinct from regular (non-cruise) missiles primarily because they have no implied nuclear weapon delivery role. The perceived threat from new cruise missiles is driven by tech developments across the globe, such as new materials, better aerodynamics, and sophisticated sensors.

A standard warhead on a cruise missile is at least as powerful as a 500-pound bomb, containing 500 pounds of high explosives plus fragmentation effects. An attack on an airfield by cruise missiles would be potentially devastating. A CM with an average of 561kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.07km, with up to 80,000 casualties in an urban center.

Cruise missiles are unmanned self-propelled guided vehicles that sustain flight through aerodynamic lift for most of their flight path. Each cruise missile based at Greenham Common carried a destructive power four times that of the atomic bomb. The debris can penetrate the body, leading to lacerations, bleeding, broken bones, and loss of limbs.

In conclusion, cruise missiles are more cost-effective weapons than manned aircraft and ballistic missiles, with potential devastating consequences for civilians and the environment.

Can F-16 shoot down cruise missiles?

Even if there are no dogfights over the front lines, Ukrainian pilots can hunt down cruise missiles more effectively. F-16s can launch modern missiles, such as the AIM-120, that can hit targets without requiring the launcher to be in the line of sight of the target. The missile can autonomously track its target.

U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets for Ukraine have begun arriving at training centers in the United States, Denmark and Romania. Kyiv’s allies hope the modern aircraft can push Russian aircraft farther from the frontlines, target radar transmitters more effectively and hunt down more cruise missiles.

Commander in Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valery Zaluzhnyi said in November that F-16s will be “less helpful” now than they would have been a year ago because Russia has had time to improve its air defences.

But they will help address a problem that has persisted from the start of the invasion in February 2022: Russia’s more modern combat aircraft have been difficult for Ukraine’s military to counter with its own aging fighters.

Can F-35 intercept cruise missiles?

The U.S. military has demonstrated how the sensors on board the F-35 could be used to pass targeting coordinates to a Patriot surface-to-air missile system to shoot down cruise missile targets. Shooting down cruise missiles is a traditional air-to-air mission for fighters, but until Oct. 31 the global F-35 fleet had not had an opportunity.

Video footage released by Israel of the intercept shows an apparent cruise missile flying at a low level. The missile passes out of the frame briefly. A second after the missile reenters the frame, a second object enters on a head-on course. The second object appears to trigger a proximity fuse within several meters of the enemy missile, which is destroyed by the explosion.

“The active defense against missiles is part of the defense’s complete response, which is also based on the directives of the Home Front Command,” the Israel air force said.

Can cruise missile be jammed?

Airborne jammers are the most effective jamming platforms against GPS-guided cruise missiles.

How powerful is a cruise missile?

The United States, Russia, North Korea, India, Iran, South Korea, Israel, France, China and Pakistan have developed several long-range subsonic cruise missiles. These missiles have a range of over 1,000 kilometres (620mi) and fly at about 800 kilometres per hour (500mph). They typically have a launch weight of about 1,500 kilograms (3,300lb) and can carry either a conventional or a nuclear warhead. Earlier versions of these missiles used inertial navigation; later versions use much more accurate TERCOM and DSMAC systems. Most recent versions can use satellite navigation.

• 3M-54 Kalibr (up to 4,500km)
• AGM-86 ALCM (from 1100 to 2400km)
• AGM-129 ACM (from 3450 to 3700km)
• AGM-181 LRSO ( 2500km)
• BGM-109 Tomahawk (up to 1,700km)
• BGM-109G Ground Launched Cruise Missile (2,500km)
• Kh-55 (3,000km) and Kh-65
• Kh-101 (4500–5500km)
• Iskander-K (not less than 3 500km)
• Hwasal-2 ( 2000km)
• RK-55 (3,000km)
• Nirbhay (up to 1500km)
• MdCN (up to 1,400km)
• Paveh (1,650km)
• Asef (1,500km)
• Hoveyzeh (1,350km)
• Abu Mahdi (over 1,000km)
• Quds 1 Houthi
• Hsiung Feng IIE (600–1,200km)
• Hyunmoo III (Hyunmoo IIIA – 500km, Hyunmoo IIIB – 1000km, Hyunmoo IIIC – 1500km)
• Type 12 SSM (1,500km under development) ; MGM-13 Mace ; DF-10/CJ-10 (CJ-10K – 1500km, CJ-20 – 2000km) ; Popeye Turbo SLCM ; GEZGİN (800–1,200km)

These missiles are about the same size and weight and fly at similar speeds to the above category. Guidance systems vary.

How much area can a missile destroy?

An IRBM with an average of 1,454kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.99km. In an urban center there could be up to 132,510 casualties in the affected area. Can a ballistic missile be destroyed while still in its boost phase? Yes, but only in theory.

What is the radius of a missile damage?

Destructive radius – between 10 meter and 50 km for zero danger to someone standing in the open, depending on the missile and payload. Radius of fallout only applies if there is zero wind at any altitude, a nearly impossible requirement. In theory, 0 m to 5 km.

Can a cruise missile destroy an aircraft carrier?

In practical terms no a single cruise missile cannot sink a USN super carrier. A cruise missile can mission kill a carrier…. that is damage it so badly that the flight deck is unable to operate aircraft.

How much damage can one cruise missile do?

A CM with an average of 561kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.07km. In an urban center there could be up to 80,000 casualties in the affected area.

A SRBM with an average of 540kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.06km. In an urban center there could be up to 77,600 casualties in the affected area.

A MRBM with an average of 1,080kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.33km. In an urban center there could be up to 115,144 casualties in the affected area.

An IRBM with an average of 1,454kg HE payload would create an explosive damage radius of up to 1.99km. In an urban center there could be up to 132,510 casualties in the affected area.

How much explosive is in a cruise missile?

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.

Can a fighter jet destroy a cruise missile?

US fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward a US destroyer operating in the Southern Red Sea.

The midair interception is the latest incident in the Red Sea where the Houthis have been attacking international shipping in what they say is a campaign to support Palestinians under siege from Israeli forces in Gaza. (Reuters file photo)

US fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward a US destroyer operating in the Southern Red Sea, the US military said on Sunday.

Can cruise missiles be intercepted?

Then the missiles themselves must have good look down modes too. Their radar is also affected by the ground as much as the aircraft. There are reasons why I think SARH is better for cruise missile interception, as raying the target will make the target “bright” enough for your own plane to track and your missile to pick up and lock on. This is a job for planes with truly powerful radars.

You can deduce why it’s easier for SAM to intercept a cruise missile. That’s because their radars look up to the sky and don’t have the same clutter issues.

A cruise missile is hard enough to intercept even without RCS reduction designs and measures applied to it. And if such measures are applied, the chances of interception are worst still.

By: Schorsch – 17th February 2006 at 09:58 Permalink – Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00.

That is the strategic background of equipping you air force with unimaginable expensive weapons. Scare your enemy and let him know you can hit him anytime anywhere. Of course, there must be something worth defending. Other option for defending is the North Korean approach: They dug lots of military sites deep into the mountain.A mandatory thing before having any successful strike is to identify your target. Best way to reduce the effectiveness of cruise missile attack is to build fake factories, put the most important equipment in in the barrack outside the Uranium Enrichement Facility. Plants high trees! After all, these measures are cheap and much more effective than S-300, MiG-31 and all the others.

Can cruise missile be shot down?

WASHINGTON, Jan 14 (Reuters) – U.S. fighter aircraft shot down an anti-ship cruise missile fired from Houthi militant areas of Yemen toward a U.S. destroyer operating in the Southern Red Sea, the U.S. military said on Sunday.