Missiles

toc =Research string= missiles + purpose

= What = An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a [|ballistic missile] with a long [|range] (greater than 5,500 km or 3,500 miles) typically designed for [|nuclear weapons delivery] (delivering one or more [|nuclear warheads]). Due to their great range and firepower, in an all-out [|nuclear war], land-based and [|submarine-based ballistic missiles] would carry most of the destructive force, with nuclear-armed [|bombers] having the remainder.ICBMs are differentiated by having greater range and speed than other ballistic missiles: [|intermediate-range ballistic missiles] (IRBMs), [|medium-range ballistic missiles] (MRBMs), [|short-range ballistic missiles] (SRBMs)—these shorter range ballistic missiles are known collectively as [|theatre ballistic missiles]. There is no single, standardized definition of what ranges would be categorized as intercontinental, intermediate, medium, or short.The word missile usually now means a self-propelled [|guided weapon] system, but it may refer to any thrown or launched object.

Missiles are usually classified according to their mission, such as air-to-air missiles designed to engage enemy aircraft or air-to-ground missiles designed to attack targets on the surface. The US, for example, designates missiles with names like AIM for Air Intercept Missile and AGM for Air Surface-attack Missile. This mission largely dictates the design of a missile, from its seeker to its warhead to its propulsion to its control system. Air-to-air missiles, like the American AIM-9 Sidewinder or Russian R-77 'Adder,' are usually small and light since they carry small warheads to attack lightly armored targets. However, these targets are often very fast and maneuverable, so the missile requires a very sensitive seeker to track that target, a powerful rocket or ramjet engine to accelerate to high speeds, and a very responsive control system for rapid maneuvers. Air-to-ground missiles, like the AGM-84 Harpoon or European Storm Shadow, are generally much bigger and heavier to carry a large warhead needed to attack more fortified targets. Since these targets are often fixed or slow moving, however, the seeker need not be as sensitive nor the control system as responsive, and the propulsion system usually cruises at relatively slow velocities below the [|speed of sound].

Strategic missiles consist of propellant-filled stages, a guidance system, and a payload. Once launched, the missile passes through three phases of flight: boost, ballistic, and reentry. If a missile has more than one stage (as all of ours do) there may be more than one boost phase interspersed with several ballistic (coasting) phases where the missile follows its trajectory. The missile can only be guided during boost phase with inertial or stellar or both. Inertial guidance uses onboard computer driven gyroscopes to determine the missile's position and compares this to the targeting information fed into the computer before launch. Stellar guidance uses an optical tracking system to triangulate star positions and update targeting information when it is out of the earth's atmosphere. Targeting cannot be changed after launch, nor can strategic missiles be recalled or destroyed in flight. These guidance systems produce accuracies measured in hundreds of feet at ranges of 7,000 miles. Payloads of strategic missiles consist of nuclear warheads which cannot arm themselves until the onboard computer confirms that all three phases of flight have been completed. How =Who/When/Where=

In the 1200s to 1400s, China has using unguided missiles in warfare, making them the first to use the self-propelled missile. The missile they used today has (normally) the same amount of power as, an example, AIM-9 Sidewinder. Read more: []

Louis Brennan (1852 -1932) From, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland. Inventor of the world's first guided missile - a torpedo like device which was used as an early coastal defence mechanism. Brennan also designed a monorail and helicopter. Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_invented_the_first_guided_missile#ixzz171lItJgi

Rockets were invented in medieval China (Circa 1044 AD) but it's first practical use for serious purpose other then entertainment took place in 1232 AD by the Chinese against the Mongols at the siege of Kai-Feng-Fue. Thereafter from 1750 AD to 1799 AD Haider Ali and Tipu Sultan [1] (Sultan of Mysore, in south India) perfected the rocket's use for military purposes, very effectively using it in war against British colonial armies. Tipu Sultan had 27 brigades (called Kushoons) and each brigade had a company of rocket men called Jourks. In the Second Anglo-Mysore war, at the Battle of Pollilur (10 September 1780), Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan achieved a grand victory, whereby the whole British detachment lead by Colonel Baillie was destroyed and 3820 soldiers were taken prisoner (including Colonel Bailli). the contributory cause being that one of the British ammunition tambrils was set on fire by Mysorean rockets.

=Why=

To kill people from far range or other country.

=How=

Airborne missiles were experimented with in World War I and used extensively in World War II. Since then a wide variety of airborne missiles have been tested in combat many times. Their performance has continuously improved because of technological advances in aerodynamics, guidance, propulsion, and warheads.

The very first air‐to‐air missile was an aircraft rocket designed primarily for antiballoon or anti‐Zeppelin work. Invented by Lt. Y. P. G. Le Prieur of the French Naval Air Service, the rocket came into use in 1916 by both the French and British air forces. Four or five projectiles, each with a Congreve rocket‐like stick for stability, were connected to interplane struts on either side of biplane fighters. Salvoed by electric ignition, the unguided rockets were most effective against larger targets such as observation balloons, but successes were also scored against other aircraft.