Missiles have been around since the first thrown stone, but today the word is reserved for rocket-powered guided weapons systems. These have had a revolutionary effect on almost every area of military activity, changing the nature of aerial and maritime combat, close air support (CAS), and strategic air war. Nuclear weapons provided the method of mass destruction on a wholly new scale, but missiles, in the shape of land-based intercontinental ballistic designs and similar submarine launched models, presented the means of delivery. By the 1960s concepts of mutually assured destruction (MAD), four-minute warnings, and nuclear Armageddon had pervaded strategic thinking, all brought about by the vast destructive potential of missiles combined with nuclear warheads.
The development of modern missiles dates back to before WW II, but it was with the German V-1 cruise missile and the V-2 ballistic rocket that the missile age truly began. The weapons had limited success but the long-term potential was irrefutable. There were even plans for an intercontinental German missile to strike New York in 1946. Today there are a wide range of strategic level weapons from intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM) to contour-hugging Tomahawk cruise missiles. Apart from such large-scale weapons, missiles have also been developed to act in the tactical role, from early bazooka-type anti-armour weapons to modern-day air-to-air Sidewinder and Phoenix missiles.
The most infamous form of missile is the ICBM, equipped with a nuclear warhead. A ballistic missile is accelerated by rocket propulsion and guided by internal controls, though once its fuel is spent it then coasts to its target. The curved or ballistic trajectory takes the missile to the outer reaches of the earth's atmosphere or even beyond it in the case of intercontinental types. Ballistic missiles may be launched from hardened silos, submarines, or mobile land platforms. They can be either single or multi-staged. Single-stage types include the German V-2 and Soviet Scuds, while multi-stage missiles have two or three sections and when the fuel from a given stage is spent, it is discarded. Missiles with ranges of less than 932 miles (1, 500 km) tend to be single-stage devices, those with ranges up to 3, 418 miles (5, 500 km) double-stage, while intercontinental types have three stages. The velocity imparted by ballistic missiles is much greater than that attained by aircraft or cruise missiles and thus decreases markedly the ability to track and destroy them. Modern guidance systems are very precise, but in earlier models the use of nuclear warheads was held to lessen the requirement for accuracy. Missile accuracy was usually phrased in terms of Circular Area Probability (CEP), defined as the 50 per cent or greater likelihood of a missile falling within a given distance of the aiming point, a fairly loose indication of capability.
The first ICBMs were tested by the USA in 1958 and they rapidly replaced the manned strategic bomber during the 1960s. Such was the potential destructive force of nuclear missiles that no defence was considered truly viable and even anti-ballistic missiles (ABMs) could only provide the survivability of counterstrike missiles, thus negating the possibility of surprise first-strike attacks. Since the 1970s many ICBMs have been equipped with multiple independently targeted re-entry vehicles (MIRVs), which allow a number of nuclear warheads to be delivered at a variety of targets from a single missile, thus greatly escalating the potential for nuclear holocaust and undermining still further spurious notions of survivability. In reality, superpower nuclear missiles effectively stalemated each other in the Cold War and their influence on the confrontation was actually quite limited.
Tactical missiles with conventional warheads have in fact had a much greater influence on the conduct of warfare in the latter stages of the 20th century. Air war has been shaped markedly by the widespread introduction of missiles. The US Sidewinder, a supersonic guided missile, was the first air-to-air design to bring down an enemy aircraft. The US Navy's Phoenix air-to-air missile has a range of some 100 miles (161 km). Modern aircraft are fitted with a variety of weapons, but missiles predominate to such an extent that developments in vectored thrusting and manoeuvrability to enhance dogfight capability have been questioned, as they are unable to defeat enemy missiles, the principal method of engagement. The surface-to-air missile (SAM) has also greatly affected air power. Cheap but potent SAMs, such as the Stinger, have dramatically decreased the battlefield survivability of CAS aircraft and helicopters, Afghanistan being a case in point. Stealth technology is one countermeasure but is extremely expensive.
Naval warfare has also been altered by missile technology, and surface-to-surface missiles, such as the Harpoon, as well as air-launched varieties have effectively replaced surface gunnery as the method of naval engagement. Missiles, even equipped with nuclear warheads, offer large carrier battlegroups considerable military capability, but large surface vessels also offer tempting targets to enemy nuclear missiles. During the Cold War, the survivability of carrier task forces was extremely dubious.
In the 20th century rocket systems were widely used in war - and in deterring it. In modern parlance, a 'rocket' is unguided once it leaves its launcher: a 'missile' is guided. The Soviet BM-13 'Katyusha' ('Little Kate'), which first saw service in 1941, and its German counterpart, the Nebelwerfer, were a prominent feature of the artillery war on the eastern front. The A4 or V2 (Verwältungswaffe - 'revenge weapon') liquid-fuelled ballistic missile was used against southern England in 1944. Captured V2s were fundamental to the post-war missile programmes of both the US and the Soviet Union, leading to missiles like Pershing and Scud
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Missiles may also doom the main battle tank (MBT), for so long the king of the battlefield. When one infantryman with reasonably steady hands can destroy a million-dollar MBT, not to mention the expensively trained crew, with a missile costing a few thousand, the cost-benefit arguments are extremely convincing. The US Hellfire missile mounted on helicopters was particularly effective during the Gulf war.
The Tomahawk cruise missile has provided a new dimension to military capability, solving many operational issues and those of particular pertinence in the post-Cold War environment. The Tomahawk is an all-weather submarine/surface-launched anti-ship or land-attack cruise missile. The land-attack version of the Tomahawk has an inertial and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) guidance system which uses a stored map reference to compare with the actual terrain, and if required, a course correction can be made to place the missile on course to the target. In the climate where western forces are likely to be called upon to carry out precise air strikes, with emphasis being placed both on avoiding own losses and on very limited ‘collateral damage’. the Tomahawk is an ideal delivery system.
Bibliography
- Brodie, Bernard, Strategy in the Missile Age (Princeton, 1959).
- Lee, R. G., Guided Weapons (London, 1988).
- Carus, W. Seth, Ballistic Missiles in Modern Conflict (London, 1991)
— John Buckley
