The following is a list of active missiles of the United States military .
Contents
- Air-to-air missiles
- Air-to-surface missiles
- Surface-to-air
- Surface-to-surface missiles
- Antisubmarine warfare
- ICBM
- Submarine-launched
- See also
 |
The following is a list of active missiles of the United States military .
|
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Air-to-Air Stinger | Infrared homing | Mach 2.2 |  |
| AIM-7 Sparrow | Semi-active radar homing | Mach 4 |  |
| AIM-9 Sidewinder | Infrared homing | Unverified (≈Mach 2.7) |  |
| AIM-120 AMRAAM | Active radar homing | Mach 4 |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| AGM-65 Maverick | Infrared homing (AGM-65D/G/F) Semi-active laser homing (AGM-65E) Charge-coupled device (AGM-65H/K) | Mach 0.93 |  |
| AGM-88 HARM | Radiation homing | Mach 1.9 |  |
| AGM-158 JASSM | Global Positioning System | Subsonic |  |
| AGM-84 Harpoon | Active radar homing | Mach 0.72 |  |
| AGM-114 Hellfire | Semi-active laser homing (AGM-114K/M/N/P/R) Active radar homing (AGM-114L) | Mach 1.3 |  |
| AGM-86 ALCM | Global Positioning System | Subsonic |  |
| AGM-158C LRASM | Global Positioning System | High Subsonic |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RIM-7 Sea Sparrow | Semi-active radar homing | Mach 4 |  | |
| RIM-66 Standard | Command midcourse and Terminal Semi-active radar homing | Mach 3.5 |  | |
| FIM-92 Stinger | Infrared homing | Mach 2.54 |  | |
| MIM-104 Patriot | Command midcourse and Terminal Semi-active radar homing | Mach 5 |  | |
| RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile | Infrared homing | Mach 2.5 |  | |
| RIM-156A Standard | Command midcourse and Terminal Semi-active radar homing | Unverified (classified) |  | |
| RIM-161 Standard Missile 3 | GPS/INS/semi-active radar homing/passive LWIR infrared homing seeker (KW) | Unverified (≈Mach 9+) |  | |
| RIM-162 Evolved Sea Sparrow | Command midcourse and Terminal Semi-active radar homing | Mach 4 |  | |
| RIM-174 Standard ERAM | Command midcourse and Terminal Active radar homing | Unverified (≈Mach 3.5) |  | |
| NASAMS (Used to protect high-value targets and Washington, D.C.) | Active radar homing | Mach 4 |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| FGM-148 Javelin | Infrared homing | Mach 0.32 |  |
| BGM-71 TOW | Wire-guided | Mach 0.8 |  |
| BGM-109 Tomahawk | Global Positioning System aided TERCOM | Mach 0.7 |  |
| RGM-84 Harpoon | Active radar homing | Mach 0.7 | |
| MGM-140 ATACMS | GPS-aided inertial navigation guidance | Mach 3 | |
| LRHW | - | Mach 17 |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| RUM-139 VL-ASROC | Inertial navigation system | Subsonic |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| LGM-30 Minuteman | Inertial navigation system GPS | ≈Mach 23 |  |
| Missile | Guidance | Speed | |
|---|---|---|---|
| UGM-133 Trident II | GPS | Mach 24 |  |
| UGM-109 Tomahawk | Global Positioning System | Mach 0.7 | |
| UGM-84 Harpoon | Active radar homing | Mach 0.7 | |
The AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile(AMRAAM) ( AM-ram) is an American beyond-visual-range air-to-air missile capable of all-weather day-and-night operations. It uses active transmit-receive radar guidance instead of semi-active receive-only radar guidance. When an AMRAAM missile is launched, NATO pilots use the brevity code "Fox Three".
A cruise missile 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 a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory.
The Cuban Missile Crisis, also known as the October Crisis in Cuba, or the Caribbean Crisis, was a 13-day confrontation between the governments of the United States and the Soviet Union, when American deployments of nuclear missiles in Italy and Turkey were matched by Soviet deployments of nuclear missiles in Cuba. The crisis lasted from 16 to 28 October 1962. The confrontation is widely considered the closest the Cold War came to escalating into full-scale nuclear war.
NATO uses a system of code names, called reporting names, to denote military aircraft and other equipment used by post-Soviet states, former Warsaw Pact countries, China, and other countries. The system assists military communications by providing short, one or two-syllable names, as alternatives to the precise proper names – which may be easily confused under operational conditions or are unknown in the Western world.
The BGM-109 TomahawkLand Attack Missile (TLAM) is a long-range, all-weather, jet-powered, subsonic cruise missile that is primarily used by the United States Navy and Royal Navy in ship and submarine-based land-attack operations.
An anti-tank guided missile (ATGM), anti-tank missile, anti-tank guided weapon (ATGW) or anti-armor guided weapon is a guided missile primarily designed to hit and destroy heavily armored military vehicles. ATGMs range in size from shoulder-launched weapons, which can be transported by a single soldier, to larger tripod-mounted weapons, which require a squad or team to transport and fire, to vehicle and aircraft mounted missile systems.
A ballistic missile (BM) is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typically stay within the Earth's atmosphere, while most larger missiles are exo-atmospheric. The largest ICBMs are capable of full orbital flight. These weapons are in a distinct category from cruise missiles, which are aerodynamically guided in powered flight and thus restricted to the atmosphere.
The MIM-104 Patriot is a surface-to-air missile (SAM) system, the primary such system used by the United States Army and several allied states. It is manufactured by the U.S. defense contractor Raytheon and derives its name from the radar component of the weapon system. The AN/MPQ-53 at the heart of the system is known as the "Phased Array Tracking Radar to Intercept on Target," which is a backronym for "Patriot". In 1984, the Patriot system began to replace the Nike Hercules system as the U.S. Army's primary high to medium air defense (HIMAD) system and the MIM-23 Hawk system as the U.S. Army's medium tactical air defense system. In addition to these roles, Patriot has been given a function in the U.S. Army's anti-ballistic missile (ABM) system. As of 2016, the system is expected to stay fielded until at least 2040.
A surface-to-air missile (SAM), also known as a ground-to-air missile (GTAM) or surface-to-air guided weapon (SAGW), is a missile designed to be launched from the ground or the sea to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft system; in modern armed forces, missiles have replaced most other forms of dedicated anti-aircraft weapons, with anti-aircraft guns pushed into specialized roles.
An air-to-air missile (AAM) is a missile fired from an aircraft for the purpose of destroying another aircraft. AAMs are typically powered by one or more rocket motors, usually solid fueled but sometimes liquid fueled. Ramjet engines, as used on the Meteor, are emerging as propulsion that will enable future medium- to long-range missiles to maintain higher average speed across their engagement envelope.
An intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM) is a ballistic missile with a range of 3,000–5,500 km, between a medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) and an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). Classifying ballistic missiles by range is done mostly for convenience. In principle there is very little difference between a low-performance ICBM and a high-performance IRBM, because decreasing payload mass can increase the range over the ICBM threshold. The range definition used here is used within the U.S. Missile Defense Agency.
The BGM-71 TOW is an American anti-tank missile. TOW replaced much smaller missiles like the SS.10 and ENTAC, offering roughly twice the effective range, a more powerful warhead, and a greatly improved semi-automatic command to line of sight (SACLOS) that could also be equipped with infrared cameras for night time use.
The Strategic Rocket Forces of the Russian Federation or the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Federation is a separate-troops branch of the Russian Armed Forces that controls Russia's land-based intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs). It was formerly part of the Soviet Armed Forces from 1959 to 1991.
A ranged weapon is any weapon that can engage targets beyond hand-to-hand distance, i.e. at distances greater than the physical reach of the user holding the weapon itself. The act of using such a weapon is also known as shooting. It is sometimes also called projectile weapon or missile weapon because it typically works by launching solid projectiles ("missiles"), though technically a fluid-projector and a directed-energy weapon are also ranged weapons. In contrast, a weapon intended to be used in hand-to-hand combat is called a melee weapon.
Man-portable air-defense systems are portable surface-to-air missiles. They are guided weapons and are a threat to low-flying aircraft, especially helicopters.
Cape Cod Space Force Station is a United States Space Force station located in the northwest corner of Joint Base Cape Cod, United States, on Flatrock Hill in Bourne, Massachusetts. Cape Cod Space Force Station began construction in 1976 as Cape Cod Missile Early Warning Station and was renamed Cape Cod Air Force Station in 1982, before assuming its current name in 2021.
The 90th Missile Wing is a component of Twentieth Air Force, stationed at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base and equipped with LGM-30G Minuteman III Missiles. It has served at Warren as a component of Strategic Air Command, Air Combat Command, Air Force Space Command and Air Force Global Strike Command since 1963.