Surface-to-surface missile


A surface-to-surface missile is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea and strike targets on land or at sea. They may be fired from hand-held or vehicle mounted devices, from fixed installations, or from a ship. They are often powered by a rocket engine or sometimes fired by an explosive charge, since the launching platform is typically stationary or moving slowly. They usually have fins and/or wings for lift and stability, although hyper-velocity or short-ranged missiles may use body lift or fly a ballistic trajectory. The first operational surface-to-surface missile was the V-1 flying bomb, which was powered by a pulsejet engine.
Contemporary surface-to-surface missiles are usually guided. An unguided surface-to-surface missile is usually referred to as a rocket, whereas a BGM-71 TOW or AT-2 Swatter is an anti-tank guided missile.
Examples of surface-to-surface missile include the MGM-140 ATACMS and the Scud family of missiles.

Examples

Types

There are a wide variety of surface-to-surface missiles. They can be categorized by their intended usage, intended target, flight profile, and launch platform. These categorizations often overlap. These types of missiles may be launched from fixed silos, road-mobile vehicle, railcar, or naval launch platforms.
Cruise missiles travel at lower speeds and trajectories, always within the atmosphere, and their motor burns during the entire flight. Ballistic missiles travel at higher speeds and trajectories with a short powered flight followed by a period of typically unpowered flight often exiting the atmosphere, followed by a high speed unpowered terminal re-entry. They are typically classified by range band, from shortest to longest: