The Simple Difference Between Ballistic Missiles and Cruise Missiles HowStuffWorks
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Guided cruise and ballistic missiles were first used when Germany attacked targets in England and Northern Europe with V1 cruise missiles and V2 ballistic missiles during World War II. Although these missiles were inaccurate, their use resulted in tens of thousands of Allied casualties. The North Korean regime successfully tested intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) in July and November 2017. Its Hwasong-15 ICBM reached an altitude of 2,780 miles (4,475 kilometers) and flew about 590 miles (1,000 kilometers) before landing in the sea off the coast of Japan. Analysts estimate the Hwasong-15 has a potential range of 8,100 miles (13,000 kilometers).
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Cruise missiles are guided, jet or propeller-driven projectiles that can fly at low altitudes, follow a flexible path, and are capable of precision strikes. Ballistic missiles, on the other hand, are unguided, rocket-powered weapons that follow a high, arching trajectory before descending toward their target. They are typically much faster and have longer ranges, but they lack the in-flight manoeuvrability of cruise missiles, making them more suitable for long-range and strategic strikes.
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This gives them the option to manually guide the missile to its target or to abort the strike. Cruise missiles are self-guided and use multiple methods to accurately deliver their payload, including terrain mapping, global positioning systems (GPS) and inertial guidance. Cruise missiles are self-propelled, guided weapons that can be launched from various platforms, including aircraft, ships, or ground-based launchers. They are designed to fly at low altitudes and can be programmed to follow a specific flight path, often hugging the terrain, which makes them difficult to detect and intercept. Cruise missiles can carry various types of warheads and are used for precise, long-range strikes on specific targets, such as military installations, infrastructure, or high-value targets.
Short-range subsonic
Terminal Phase begins when the detached warhead(s) reenter the Earth’s atmosphere and ends upon impact or detonation. During this phase, which can last for less than a minute, strategic warheads can be traveling at speeds greater than 3,200 kilometers per hour (1,988 miles per hour). When a missile test is being reported, the terms “ballistic missile” and “cruise missile” are frequently used. Ballistic and cruise missile systems are seen as emblems of national power and a cost-effective armament by many governments.
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Rather than rocket engines, cruise missiles are powered by turbofans just like many tactical aircraft, and most often, even have wings that deploy after they’ve launched. Some cruise missiles can even be guided into their target by remote operators using cameras on the weapon’s nose, again, not unlike piloting a drone or UAV. These rocket motors carry the ballistic missile to a high altitude (boost phase) until the rocket fuel is entirely expended. At that point, known as the midcourse phase, the missile reaches its highest altitude before it begins to travel back down its arced flight path. For ICBMs, this phase can last up to 20 minutes, with the missile itself traveling at speeds of around 15,000 miles per hour. A depressed trajectory is non-optimal, as a lower and flatter trajectory takes less time between launch and impact but has a lower throw-weight.
Each MIRV can hit a target hundreds of kilometers away from each other, and some MIRVs will carry decoys and countermeasures, putting additional stress on defensive systems. Throw-weight is normally calculated using an optimal ballistic trajectory from one point on the surface of the Earth to another. Recently North Korea continued its weapons testing, firing cruise missiles amidst escalating tensions and “war preparations” against South Korea. It then begins its unpowered descent, known as the terminal phase, traveling at speeds of nearly 2,000 miles per hour until it collides with its target. The United States has deployed nine nuclear cruise missiles at one time or another. The United States 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.
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The second type of missile is more modern and also much more accurate, the cruise missile. Cruise missiles typically have a shorter range than long-range ballistic missiles, but their accuracy is extremely high. Cruise missiles can reach their objectives from a variety of altitudes so long as they remain within the atmosphere.
What’s the difference between a cruise missile and a ballistic missile?
It allows the missile to cruise low through the atmosphere, sometimes just above ground level. Most other countries pursuing missile technology have not developed strategic weapons to the extent of the United States and the former Soviet Union. Nonetheless, several other countries have produced them; among these are the United Kingdom, France, China, Pakistan, Israel, Iran, South Korea, and North Korea. Also, as with any technology, there has occurred a transfer of ballistic missile technology to less-developed countries. Combined with the widespread capacity to produce chemical warheads, such weapons represent a potent addition to the arsenals of emerging powers of the developing world.
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Due to the limited time available, ballistic missiles are significantly more difficult to intercept than cruise missiles. Ballistic missiles present key advantages (See Table 1) compared with cruise missiles (the latter are propelled until impact and include a guidance system). Ballistic missiles can reach a longer range with lower fuel in a relatively short time (around 30 minutes for an ICBM). Their very high speed in the ballistic phase also makes them harder to intercept and destroy, even if they are easily detected. For these reasons, cruise missiles have not replaced ballistic missiles for carrying nuclear weapons at long range even if cruise missiles provide better precision and are harder to detect due to their low altitude trajectory. Nevertheless, the cost of developing ballistic missiles and the infrastructure they require make them much more expensive than cruise missiles.
Thus in such missiles the trajectory has to be fully determined by a given initial velocity, effects of gravity, air resistance and earth's motion. A ballistic missile is propelled into the air by a rocket motor, or often (as is the case with ICBMs) multiple staged rocket motors. ICBMs bear a striking resemblance to the rockets that take astronauts into space for good reason, other than the payloads these platforms carry, they are mechanically very similar. These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, usually using ramjet engines. A hypersonic cruise missile travels at least five times the speed of sound (Mach 5).
Short- and medium-range ballistic missiles are called theatre ballistic missiles, while ICBMs and long-range ballistic missiles are referred to as strategic ballistic missiles. On their flight path, ballistic missiles are capable of traveling at a high rate of speed. With terminal velocities of over 5,000 meters per second, an ICBM can strike a target within a range of 10,000 kilometers in approximately 30 to 35 minutes.
Strategic missiles represent a logical step in the attempt to attack enemy forces at a distance. As such, they can be seen as extensions of either artillery (in the case of ballistic missiles) or military aircraft (in the case of cruise missiles). Ballistic missiles are rocket-propelled weapons that travel by momentum in a high, arcing trajectory after they have been launched into flight by a brief burst of power.
Cruise and ballistic missiles are widely used by many countries, both offensively and defensively. Things got real, though, on Jan. 7, 2020, when Iran launched more than a dozen ballistic missiles at two Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops. It was Iran's retaliation for the U.S. drone strike that killed Iran Gen. Qassem Soleimani on Jan. 3, 2020. There were no casualties and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif defended the missile strike on the U.S. bases in Iraq, saying it was an act of "self-defense." Ballistic missiles on the other hand are not powered during most of their flight. During the launch they are given a high initial velocity and then coast throughout most of their flight.
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