What are the different categories of missiles and bombs and when do you use them?

Question

I see words like “surface to air” and “hellfire” and “cruise missile” and “smart bombs”.

What are the different categories here, what do they do, when do you want to use them?

In: 4

Answer 1

[Surface to air missiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surface-to-air_missile) are missile that are launched from the surface and target air targets, generally as part of an air defense system. Missiles are often described as surface-to-air (SAM, GTAM, or SAGW), surface-to-surface (SSM or GGM), air-to-air (AAM), and air-to-surface (ASM or AGM) as where they are launched from and what they can target are very important.

[Cruise missiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cruise_missile) are a type of missile that are powered throughout their flight. They are often designed for medium ranges, but some have been designed from short (on the order of 100km) to intercontinental (8,000km or more; 20,000km can hit anywhere in the world). An alternative type of missile is the [ballistic missiles](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ballistic_missile), which are only powered for a short time after launch. Ballistic missiles can similarly be designed for any range.

[Smart or guided bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guided_bomb) are bombs that have built-in guidance systems and thus are very likely to hit their target. This guidance is very limited compared to missiles, and typically limited to just fins. The primary comparison are [dumb or unguided bombs](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unguided_bomb), which were heavily used in WW2, and just dumped out of the plane while roughly over the target.

[Hellfire](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AGM-114_Hellfire) (its complete name is AGM-114 Hellfire) is a specific model of missile developed by the US as an air to ground weapon. The [AIM-9 Sidewinder](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AIM-9_Sidewinder) is a similarly well-known air to air missile.

A few related definitions:

* Missile – a self-propelled weapon that flies through the air.
* Shell – a weapon fired from a canon. Note that both guns and artillery pieces meet the definition of canon here.
* Bomb – a weapon dropped from another system, often a plane, but possibly separating from a missile.
* Torpedo – a self-propelled weapon that swims through water, for attacking ships and submarines at or below the waterline.