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57-567: Williams International had been building small turbofan engines for cruise missile applications since the 1950s, and had successfully entered the general aviation market in the late 1980s with the FJ44 engine. In 1992, NASA initiated a program, Advanced General Aviation Transport Experiments (AGATE) to partner with manufacturers and help develop technologies that would revitalize the sagging general aviation industry. In 1996, Williams joined AGATE's General Aviation Propulsion (GAP) program to develop

114-709: A TNT charge, a Sperry autopilot and barometric altitude control. Inspired by the experiments, the United States Army developed a similar flying bomb called the Kettering Bug . Germany had also flown trials with remote-controlled aerial gliders ( Torpedogleiter ) built by Siemens-Schuckert beginning in 1916. In the Interwar Period, Britain's Royal Aircraft Establishment developed the Larynx (Long Range Gun with Lynx Engine) , which underwent

171-468: A 1,500 hp-class engine Bramo started development of a two-row version of the engine as the Bramo 329 , mirroring similar developments at BMW who were trying to scale up their Pratt & Whitney Hornet into the two-row BMW 139 . Design of both engines was well advanced in 1939 when BMW bought Bramo, and cancelled work on the 329 to concentrate on what would become the excellent BMW 801 . Realizing

228-554: A Syrian airbase in retaliation for a Syrian chemical weapons attack against a rebel stronghold. The United States Air Force (USAF) deploys an air-launched cruise missile, the AGM-86 ALCM . The Boeing B-52 Stratofortress is the exclusive delivery vehicle for the AGM-86 and AGM-129 ACM . Both missile types are configurable for either conventional or nuclear warheads. The USAF adopted the AGM-86 for its bomber fleet while AGM-109

285-565: A bomber carrying the same payload. The main advantages were speed (although not sufficient to outperform contemporary propeller-driven interceptors) and expendability. The production cost of a V-1 was only a small fraction of that of a V-2 supersonic ballistic missile with a similar-sized warhead. Unlike the V-2, the initial deployments of the V-1 required stationary launch ramps which were susceptible to bombardment. Nazi Germany, in 1943, also developed

342-548: A conventional or a nuclear warhead, while smaller ones carry only conventional warheads. A hypersonic cruise missile travels at least five times the speed of sound ( Mach 5). These missiles travel faster than the speed of sound, usually using ramjet engines. The range is typically 100–500 km, but can be greater. Guidance systems vary. Examples: 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

399-646: A few flight tests in the 1920s. In the Soviet Union , Sergei Korolev headed the GIRD -06 cruise missile project from 1932 to 1939, which used a rocket-powered boost- glide bomb design. The 06/III (RP-216) and 06/IV (RP-212) contained gyroscopic guidance systems. The vehicle was designed to boost to 28 km (17 mi) altitude and glide a distance of 280 km (170 mi), but test flights in 1934 and 1936 only reached an altitude of 500 metres (1,600 ft). In 1944, during World War II , Germany deployed

456-569: A fuel-efficient turbofan engine that would be even smaller than the FJ44. The result was the FJX-2 engine, which produced 550 lbf (2,400 N) thrust. Williams then contracted with Burt Rutan 's Scaled Composites to design and build the V-Jet II, considered a Very Light Jet (VLJ), to use as a testbed and technology demonstrator to showcase the new engine. At Scaled, the aircraft was known as

513-567: A hypersonic cruise missile in August 2021, a claim it denies. The French Force de Frappe nuclear forces include both land and sea-based bombers with Air-Sol Moyenne Portée (ASMP) high-speed medium-range nuclear cruise missiles. Two models are in use, ASMP and a newer ASMP-Amelioré (ASMP-A), which was developed in 1999. An estimated 40 to 50 were produced. India in 2017 successfully flight-tested its indigenous Nirbhay ('Fearless') land-attack cruise missile, which can deliver nuclear warheads to

570-605: A non- ballistic , extremely low-altitude trajectory. The idea of an "aerial torpedo" was shown in the British 1909 film The Airship Destroyer in which flying torpedoes controlled wirelessly are used to bring down airships bombing London . In 1916, the American aviator Lawrence Sperry built and patented an "aerial torpedo", the Hewitt-Sperry Automatic Airplane , a small biplane carrying

627-589: A number of heavy bombers early in World War I, building a run of seven Riesenflugzeug . Intended to be used in the strategic role in long duration flights, the SSW R-series had three 150 h.p Benz Bz.III engines in the cabin driving two propellers connected to a common gear-box through a combination leather-cone and centrifugal-key clutch in SSW R.I to the SSW R.VII models (the SSW R.VIII utilized four engines). In

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684-463: A range of over 1,000 kilometres (620 mi) and fly at about 800 kilometres per hour (500 mph). They typically have a launch weight of about 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb) 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 . Examples: These missiles are about

741-619: A strike range of 1,000 km. Nirbhay had been flight-tested successfully. India currently operates 7 variants of Brahmos cruise missile operational range of 300-1000 km. India is currently developing hypersonic BRAHMOS-II which is going to be the fastest cruise missile. The Israel Defense Forces reportedly deploy the medium-range air-launched Popeye Turbo ALCM and the Popeye Turbo SLCM medium-long range cruise missile with nuclear warheads on Dolphin class submarines . Pakistan currently has four cruise missile systems:

798-784: A variant of the FJX-2. However, performance was not satisfactory, and the design was changed to use two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW610F engines, which had been specifically designed by Pratt for the Eclipse. The prototype and only V-Jet II aircraft was obtained by Eclipse Aviation along with the program, and was donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association AirVenture museum in Oshkosh, Wisconsin in 2001. General characteristics Performance Cruise missile A cruise missile

855-450: Is an unmanned self-propelled guided vehicle that sustains flight through aerodynamic lift for most of its flight path and whose primary mission is to place an ordnance or special payload on a target. Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision. Modern cruise missiles are capable of traveling at high subsonic , supersonic , or hypersonic speeds, are self-navigating, and are able to fly on

912-495: Is that its users face difficult choices in target allocation , to avoid expending the missiles on targets of low value. For instance, during the 2001 strikes on Afghanistan the United States attacked targets of very low monetary value with cruise missiles, which led many to question the efficiency of the weapon. However, proponents of the cruise missile counter that the weapon can not be blamed for poor target selection, and

969-624: The Babur missile Both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China ( Taiwan ) have designed several cruise missile variants, such as the well-known C-802 , some of which are capable of carrying biological, chemical, nuclear, and conventional warheads. China has the CJ-10 land attack cruise missile which is capable of carrying a nuclear warhead. Additionally, China appears to have tested

1026-473: The Mistel composite aircraft program, which can be seen as a rudimentary air-launched cruise missile, where a piloted fighter-type aircraft was mounted atop an unpiloted bomber-sized aircraft that was packed with explosives to be released while approaching the target. Bomber-launched variants of the V-1 saw limited operational service near the end of the war, with the pioneering V-1's design reverse-engineered by

1083-571: The Model 271 . The aircraft and engine were debuted at the 1997 Oshkosh Airshow . Scaled's test pilot Doug Shane received the Iven C. Kincheloe Award from the Society of Experimental Test Pilots for his flight test work on the plane. The V-Jet II was an all-composite structure with a forward-swept wing, a V-tail, each fin of which was mounted on the nacelle of one of the two engines. The overall design

1140-632: The Pakistan Army since 2010, and Pakistan Navy since 2018. Russia has Kh-55SM cruise missiles, with a range similar to the United States' AGM-129 range of 3000 km, but are able to carry a more powerful warhead of 200 kt. They are equipped with a TERCOM system which allows them to cruise at an altitude lower than 110 meters at subsonic speeds while obtaining a CEP accuracy of 15 meters with an inertial navigation system . They are air-launched from either Tupolev Tu-95s , Tupolev Tu-22Ms , or Tupolev Tu-160s , each able to carry 16 for

1197-736: The Siemens-Reiniger-Werke AG to form the present-day Siemens AG . Siemens-Schuckert produced various railways: Siemens-Schuckert built a number of designs in World War I and inter-war era. They also produced aircraft engines under the Siemens-Halske brand, which evolved into their major product line after the end of World War I . The company reorganized as Brandenburgische Motorenwerke , or simply Bramo , in 1936, and were later purchased in 1939 by BMW to become BMW Flugmotorenbau . Siemens-Schuckert designed

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1254-625: The Siemens-Schuckert D.IV . Several offshoots of the design included triplanes and a parasol monoplane , but none saw production. With the end of the war production of the D.IV continued, mainly for sales to Switzerland who flew them into the late 1920s. With the signing of the Treaty of Versailles the next year all aircraft production in Germany was shut down. Siemens-Schuckert immediately disappeared, but Siemens-Halske continued sales of

1311-409: The air-launched Ra'ad-I and its enhanced version Ra'ad-II ; the ground and submarine launched Babur ; ship-launched Harbah missile and surface launched Zarb missile . Both, Ra'ad and Babur , can carry nuclear warheads between 10 and 25 kt, and deliver them to targets at a range of up to 300 km (190 mi) and 450 km (280 mi) respectively. Babur has been in service with

1368-521: The -003 used a simpler compressor/stator system that remains in use in modern designs today. The -002 proved to be too complex and work on it soon ended, but the -003 showed definite promise and eventually became the BMW 003 . The company had a work camp near Monowitz producing parts for the aircraft, and known as Bobrek concentration camp . It employed ostarbeiter slave workers as well as Auschwitz prisoners in its factory. The main factory to which Brobrek

1425-881: The Americans as the Republic-Ford JB-2 cruise missile. Immediately after the war, the United States Air Force had 21 different guided missile projects, including would-be cruise missiles. All but four were cancelled by 1948: the Air Materiel Command Banshee, the SM-62 Snark , the SM-64 Navaho , and the MGM-1 Matador. The Banshee design was similar to Operation Aphrodite ; like Aphrodite, it failed, and

1482-612: The BGM-109 Tomahawk missile model has become a significant part of the United States naval arsenal. It gives ships and submarines a somewhat accurate, long-range, conventional land attack weapon. Each costs about US$ 1.99 million. Both the Tomahawk and the AGM-86 were used extensively during Operation Desert Storm . On 7 April 2017, during the Syrian Civil War , U.S. warships fired more than 50 cruise missiles into

1539-574: The Brahmos: ship/land-launched, air-launched, and sub-launched. The ship/land-launched version was operational as of late 2007. The Brahmos have the capability to attack targets on land. Russia also continues to operate other cruise missiles: the SS-N-12 Sandbox , SS-N-19 Shipwreck , SS-N-22 Sunburn and SS-N-25 Switchblade . Germany and Spain operate the Taurus missile while Pakistan has made

1596-672: The RN in 1999, during the Kosovo War (the United States fired cruise missiles in 1991). The Royal Air Force uses the Storm Shadow cruise missile on its Typhoon and previously its Tornado GR4 aircraft. It is also used by France, where it is known as SCALP EG, and carried by the Armée de l'Air 's Mirage 2000 and Rafale aircraft. India and Russia have jointly developed the supersonic cruise missile BrahMos . There are three versions of

1653-518: The SSW R.VII designs were noted for their distinctive forked fuselage. Several of these aircraft (SSW R.V through the SSW R.VII) fought on the Eastern Front. Although interesting in concept, the cost of these and the R-types from other companies was so great that the air force eventually abandoned the concept until more practical designs arrived later in the war. The first fighter designed at

1710-496: The Sh.322, when Siemens was given the 300-block of numbers. The Sh.322 design had reliability problems and never became popular. The company reorganized as Bramo in 1936, and continued development of what was now their own large engine. Modifying the Sh.322 with the addition of fuel injection and a new supercharger led to the Bramo 323 Fafnir , which entered production in 1937. Although rather outdated in terms of design, by this time

1767-488: The Sh.III and started development of smaller engines for the civilian market. By the mid-1920s their rotary engines were no longer in vogue, but "non-turning" versions of the same basic mechanicals led to a series of 7-cylinder radial engines , the Sh.10 through Sh.14A, delivering up to 150 hp in the 14A. The Sh.14A became a best-seller in the trainer market, and over 15,000 of all the versions were eventually built. Siemens-Halske no longer had any competitive engines for

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1824-549: The Soviet Union began to work on air-launched cruise missiles as well ( ALCM ). These ACLM missiles were typically delivered via bombers designated as "Blinders" or "Backfire". The missiles in this configuration were called the AS-1, and AS-2 with eventual new variants with more development time. The main purpose of Soviet-based cruise missiles was to have defense and offensive mechanisms against enemy ships; in other words, most of

1881-407: The Soviet Union was working on nearly ten different types of cruise missiles. However, due to resources, most of the initial types of cruise missiles developed by the Soviet Union were Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles or Submarine-Launched Cruise Missiles ( SLCMs ). The SS-N-1 cruise missile was developed to have different configurations to be fired from a submarine or a ship. However, as time progressed,

1938-486: The Soviet cruise missiles were anti-ship missiles. In the 1980s the Soviet Union had developed an arsenal of cruise missiles nearing 600 platforms which consisted of land, sea, and air delivery systems. The United States has deployed nine nuclear cruise missiles at one time or another. Currently, cruise missiles are among the most expensive of single-use weapons, up to several million dollars apiece. One consequence of this

1995-684: The Tu-95, 12 for the Tu-160, and 4 for the Tu-22M. A stealth version of the missile, the Kh-101 is in development. It has similar qualities as the Kh-55, except that its range has been extended to 5,000 km, is equipped with a 1,000 kg conventional warhead, and has stealth features which reduce its probability of intercept. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the most recent cruise missile developed

2052-567: The United States Navy submarine missile project was the SSM-N-8 Regulus missile, based upon the V-1 but powered by an Allison J33 jet engine. The Regulus entered service but was phased out with the advent of submarine launched ballistic missiles that did not require the submarine to surface in order to launch the missile and guide it to its target. The United States Air Force's first operational surface-to-surface missile

2109-426: The case of engine failure, which was extremely common at the time, the bomber could continue flying on two engines while the third was repaired by the in-flight mechanic. Two transmission shafts transferred the power from the gear-box to propeller gear-boxes mounted on the wing struts. Although there were some problems with the clutch system, the gear-box proved to be reliable when properly maintained. The SSW R.1 through

2166-745: The concept was proven sound and the 500-megawatt (670,000 hp) engine finished a successful test run in 1961, no airworthy device was ever completed. The project was finally abandoned in favor of ICBM development. While ballistic missiles were the preferred weapons for land targets, heavy nuclear and conventional weapon tipped cruise missiles were seen by the USSR as a primary weapon to destroy United States naval carrier battle groups . Large submarines (for example, Echo and Oscar classes) were developed to carry these weapons and shadow United States battle groups at sea, and large bombers (for example, Backfire , Bear , and Blackjack models) were equipped with

2223-401: The engine had matured into a highly reliable powerplant despite its comparatively poor fuel economy, and 5,500 were produced until the lines shut down in 1944. In design terms the 323 was basically a dead-end with little growth potential. By the start of the war its 1,000 hp was already at the low end of the performance scale, and use was limited to transports and bombers. In order to build

2280-413: The first operational cruise missiles. The V-1 , often called a flying bomb , contained a gyroscope guidance system and was propelled by a simple pulsejet engine, the sound of which gave it the nickname of "buzz bomb" or "doodlebug". Accuracy was sufficient only for use against very large targets (the general area of a city), while the range of 250 km (160 mi) was significantly lower than that of

2337-500: The larger end of the market, and to address this they negotiated a license in 1929 to produce the 9-cylinder Bristol Jupiter IV . Minor changes for the German market led to the Sh.20 and Sh.21. Following the evolution of their smaller Sh.14's, the engine was then bored out to produce the 900 hp design, the Sh.22. In 1933 new engine naming was introduced by the RLM , and this design became

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2394-417: The most advanced rotary engine designs of the war. The D.I fighter also formed the basis for a series of original designs, which by the end of 1917 had reached a peak in the Siemens-Schuckert D.III , which went into limited production in early 1918, and found use in home defense units as an interceptor , due to its outstanding rate of climb. Further modifications improved its handling and performance to produce

2451-442: The renowned Protos vehicles in 1908. In World War II , the company had a factory producing aircraft and other parts at Monowitz near Auschwitz . There was a workers camp near the factory known as Bobrek concentration camp . The Siemens Schuckert logo consisted of an S with a smaller S superimposed on the middle with the smaller S rotated left by 45 degrees. The logo was used into the late 1960s, when both companies merged with

2508-618: The same argument applies to other types of UAVs : they are cheaper than human pilots when total training and infrastructure costs are taken into account, not to mention the risk of loss of personnel. As demonstrated in Libya in 2011 and prior conflicts, cruise missiles are much more difficult to detect and intercept than other aerial assets (reduced radar cross-section, infrared and visual signature due to smaller size), suiting them to attacks against static air defense systems. Siemens-Schuckert Siemens-Schuckert (or Siemens-Schuckertwerke )

2565-456: The same size and weight and fly at similar speeds to the above category. Guidance systems vary. Examples: These are subsonic missiles that weigh around 500 kilograms (1,102 lb) and have a range of up to 300 km (190 mi). Examples: The most common mission for cruise missiles is to attack relatively high-value targets such as ships, command bunkers, bridges and dams. Modern guidance systems permit accurate attacks. As of 2001 ,

2622-536: The time mainly for escort work. The prototype SSW E.II, powered by the inline Argus AsII, crashed in June 1916, killing Franz Steffen, one of the designers of the SSW R types. By early 1916 the first generation of German monoplane fighters were outclassed by the Nieuport 11 and the Nieuport 17 which very quickly followed it; and Siemens-Schuckert were supplied with a captured Nieuport 17 to "study". The resulting SSW D.I

2679-450: The two-row radial development was a risky proposition; Bramo engineers had also started developing axial-flow jet engines in 1938. They were awarded a development contract to continue work on two designs, which would later become the 109-002 and 109-003 when the RLM officially started supporting jet development. The -002 used an advanced contra-rotating compressor for added efficiency, while

2736-519: The weapons in their air-launched cruise missile (ALCM) configuration. Cruise missiles can be categorized by payload/warhead size, speed, range, and launch platform. Often variants of the same missile are produced for different launch platforms (for instance, air- and submarine-launched versions). Guidance systems can vary across missiles. Some missiles can be fitted with any of a variety of navigation systems ( Inertial navigation , TERCOM , or satellite navigation ). Larger cruise missiles can carry either

2793-551: The works was the Siemens-Schuckert E.I which appeared in mid 1915, and which was the first aircraft to be powered by the Siemens-Halske Sh.I, a new rotary , developed by Siemens-Schuckert, in which the cylinders and the crankshaft rotated in opposite directions. A small number of production machines were supplied to various Feldflieger Abteilung to supplement supplies of the Fokker and Pfalz monoplane fighters used at

2850-598: Was a German electrical engineering company headquartered in Berlin , Erlangen and Nuremberg that was incorporated into the Siemens AG in 1966. Siemens Schuckert was founded in 1903 when Siemens & Halske acquired Schuckertwerke. Subsequently, Siemens & Halske specialized in communications engineering and Siemens-Schuckert in power engineering and pneumatic instrumentation. During World War I Siemens-Schuckert also produced aircraft. It took over manufacturing of

2907-599: Was adapted to launch from trucks and ships and adopted by the USAF and Navy. The truck-launched versions, and also the Pershing II and SS-20 Intermediate Range Ballistic Missiles, were later destroyed under the bilateral INF (Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces) treaty with the USSR. The British Royal Navy (RN) also operates cruise missiles, specifically the U.S.-made Tomahawk, used by the RN's nuclear submarine fleet. UK conventional warhead versions were first fired in combat by

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2964-687: Was canceled in April 1949. Concurrently, the US Navy's Operation Bumblebee , was conducted at Topsail Island , North Carolina , from c. 1 June 1946, to 28 July 1948. Bumblebee produced proof-of-concept technologies that influenced the US military's other missile projects. During the Cold War , both the United States and the Soviet Union experimented further with the concept, of deploying early cruise missiles from land, submarines, and aircraft. The main outcome of

3021-530: Was in response to the crisis posed by the Soviet attack on Hungary which suppressed the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 . Between 1957 and 1961 the United States followed an ambitious and well-funded program to develop a nuclear-powered cruise missile, Supersonic Low Altitude Missile (SLAM). It was designed to fly below the enemy's radar at speeds above Mach 3 and carry hydrogen bombs that it would drop along its path over enemy territory. Although

3078-458: Was powered by the Siemens-Halske Sh.I, but was otherwise a fairly literal copy of the Nieuport 17. This aircraft was the first Siemens-Schuckert fighter to be ordered in quantity, but by the time it became available in numbers (well into 1917) it was outclassed by contemporary Albatros fighters. Development of the Sh.I engine resulted in the eleven-cylinder, 160 hp Sh.III , perhaps one of

3135-481: Was quite reminiscent of the LearAvia Lear Fan , although much smaller. Williams had not intended to produce the aircraft, but it attracted a lot of attention, and Eclipse Aviation was founded in 1998 to further develop and produce the aircraft. The airframe was significantly redesigned as an all-metal structure sporting a T-tail, and the name Eclipse 500 . The prototype flew with a pair of EJ-22 engines,

3192-727: Was the Kalibr missile which entered production in the early 1990s and was officially inducted into the Russian arsenal in 1994. However, it only saw its combat debut on 7 October 2015, in Syria as a part of the Russian military campaign in Syria . The missile has been used 14 more times in combat operations in Syria since its debut. In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the Soviet Union was attempting to develop cruise missiles. In this short time frame,

3249-562: Was the winged, mobile, nuclear-capable MGM-1 Matador , also similar in concept to the V-1. Deployment overseas began in 1954, first to West Germany and later to the Republic of China and South Korea. On 7 November 1956, the U.S. Air Force deployed Matador units in West Germany, whose missiles were capable of striking targets in the Warsaw Pact , from their fixed day-to-day sites to unannounced dispersed launch locations. This alert

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