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Exocet missile in flight

A missile (see also pronunciation differences) is a self-propelled, explosive projectile used as a weapon towards a target.

Missiles are typically propelled by rockets, but other engines such as ramjet, turbojet and turbofan engines can also be used.

The word missile comes from the Latin verb mittere, literally meaning "to send".

Missiles that have the ability to maneuver through the air can be guided, and are known as guided missiles. These have three key system components:

• tracking
• guidance
• flight

A tracking system locates the missile's target. This can be either a human gunner aiming a sight on the target (remotely from the missile) or an automatic tracker. Automatic trackers use radiation emanating from the target or emitted from the launch platform and reflecting back to it from the target. Passive automatic trackers use the target's inherent radiation, usually heat or light, but missiles designed to attack Command & Control posts, aircraft or guided missiles may look for radio waves. Active automatic trackers rely on the target being illuminated by radiation. The target can be "painted" with light (sometimes infrared and/or laser) or radio waves (radar) which can be detected by the missile. The radiation for the painting can originate in the missile itself or may come from a remote station (for example, a hilltop gunner can illuminate a target with a laser device and this can be used to direct an air launched guided missile).

A guidance system takes data from the missile's tracking system and flight system and computes a flight path for the missile designed to intercept the target. It produces commands for the flight system.

The flight system causes the missile to maneuver. There are two main systems: vectored thrust (for missiles that are powered throughout the guidance phase of their flight) and aerodynamic maneuvering (wings, fins, canards, etc).

There are some similarities between guided missiles and guided bombs. A guided bomb, dropped from an aircraft, is unpowered and uses aerodynamic fins for forward horizontal maneuvering while falling vertically.

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