Alexandre Janssens
2017-04-07 04:35:57 UTC
Why is a non-ballistic guided air torpedo called a "cruise missile"?
Saw the news just now, that the USS Ross and USS Porter fired about five
dozen 500mph "Tomahawk cruise missiles" against the Shayrat air base in
Syria, north of Damascus, with the thousand-pounds of explosives hitting
the tarmac, hangars, the control tower, and stored munitions.
Google tells me the missiles flow "under the radar" as opposed to, say,
"ballistic missiles" which don't sustain themselves with aerodynamic lift
like a cruise missile apparently does.
http://www.brahmos.com/content.php?id=10&sid=9
Wikipedia says it flies "in the atmosphere", which doesn't say why it's
called a "cruise" missile either but it does mention that it flies at a
constant speed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile
That wikipedia article says the V1 was the first cruise missile, where this
wikipedia article defines a "missile" as being "guided" (as opposed to a
"rocket" which isn't guided, apparently).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile
So, a "cruise missile" is apparently an aerodynamic jet-propelled guided
thing that doesn't have a ballistic trajectory.
Saw the news just now, that the USS Ross and USS Porter fired about five
dozen 500mph "Tomahawk cruise missiles" against the Shayrat air base in
Syria, north of Damascus, with the thousand-pounds of explosives hitting
the tarmac, hangars, the control tower, and stored munitions.
Google tells me the missiles flow "under the radar" as opposed to, say,
"ballistic missiles" which don't sustain themselves with aerodynamic lift
like a cruise missile apparently does.
http://www.brahmos.com/content.php?id=10&sid=9
Wikipedia says it flies "in the atmosphere", which doesn't say why it's
called a "cruise" missile either but it does mention that it flies at a
constant speed.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile
That wikipedia article says the V1 was the first cruise missile, where this
wikipedia article defines a "missile" as being "guided" (as opposed to a
"rocket" which isn't guided, apparently).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missile
So, a "cruise missile" is apparently an aerodynamic jet-propelled guided
thing that doesn't have a ballistic trajectory.