A guided missile launched from land or sea against an airborne target.
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Results for surface-to-air missile
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A guided missile launched from land or sea against an airborne target.
A missile fired from the ground or from ships and directed at aircraft or other missiles.
See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.
The noun has one meaning:
Meaning #1:
a guided missile fired from shipboard against an airborne target
Synonym: SAM
A surface-to-air missile (SAM) or ground-to-air missile (GAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft. It is a type of anti-aircraft system.
Land-based SAMs can be deployed from fixed installations or mobile launchers. The smallest SAMs are capable of being carried and launched by a single person. These types of SAM are also referred to as Man-Portable Air Defence Systems (ManPADS). Soviet ManPADS have been exported around the world and can still be found in many of their former client states. Other nations have developed their own ManPADS (see list below).
Land-based SAMs are deployed on mobile launchers, either wheeled or tracked. The tracked vehicles are usually armoured vehicles specifically designed to carry SAMs. Larger SAMs may be deployed in fixed launchers, but can be towed/re-deployed at will.
Ship-based SAMs are in widespread use. Virtually all surface warships can be armed with SAMs (see list below). In fact, naval SAMs are a necessity for all front-line surface warships. Some warship types specialise in anti-air warfare e.g. Ticonderoga-class cruisers equipped with the Aegis combat system or Kirov class cruisers with the S-300PMU Favorit missile system.
Targets for non-ManPAD SAMs will usually be acquired by air-search radar, then tracked before/while a SAM is "locked-on" and then fired. Potential targets, if they are military aircraft will be identified as friend or foe systems before "lock-on".
Development of surface-to-air missiles began in Nazi Germany (hard pressed by Allied air superiority) during late World War II with missiles such as the Wasserfall though no working system was deployed before the war's end.
| Types of missile |
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Air-to-air missile (AAM) ·
Air-to-surface missile (ASM) ·
Surface-to-air missile (SAM) ·
Surface-to-surface missile (SSM) · Ballistic missile · Intercontinental ballistic
missile (ICBM) · Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM) · Anti-ballistic missile (ABM) · Cruise missile · Anti-ship missile (AShM) · Anti-submarine Rocket (ASROC) · Anti-tank guided
missile (ATGM) · Anti-satellite
weapon (ASAT) Guidance types |
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![]() | Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. Read more | |
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