The fundamental difference between ballistic and cruise missiles lies in their flight trajectory. A ballistic missile launches into space before gravity pulls it back down. A cruise missile stays inside Earth's atmosphere and cruises like an airplane. Let us explore the differences between ballistic and cruise missiles in the lines below.
Difference between Ballistic Missiles and Cruise Missiles
The following are the crucial differences between ballistic and cruise missiles presented in the form of a table.
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Key Feature
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Ballistic Missile
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Cruise Missile
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Flight Path
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It follows a parabolic arch
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It follows a low flat horizontal path
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Engine Type
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It consists of a multi stage rocket booster
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A ramjet or air breathing engine
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Atmosphere
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Shoots up above the atmosphere and re-enters the atmosphere at high speed.
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It stays inside the atmosphere
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Top Speed
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Supersonic to Hypersonic (Mach 5 to 20+)
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Mostly Subsonic to Supersonic (Mach 0.8 to 3)
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Altitude
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Flies upto a height of thousand of kilometers height.
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It stays low at a 30 feet above the ground.
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Guidance
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Initially guided by rocket, and then gravity pushes it downward
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It is always guided by a onboard navigation system.
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Typical Target
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It targets fixed targets like enemy bases, silos
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It targets high value assets like command centres, SAM sites, radars, fuel storage depots etc
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How Ballistic Missiles Work?
Ballistic missiles complete three phases during its execution, in the phase 1, the missile is launched using a rocket, it flies with high velocity and shoots straight up in the atmosphere.
In the second phase once it has reached a height then the engine shuts down and the missiles coasts through the atmosphere like a ball thrown up in the space, and in the third phase the warhead separates from the rocket and plunges down at hypersonic speeds to hit the target.
How Cruise Missiles Work?
Cruise missiles are different from ballistic missiles as they rely on stealth and low flight, whereas ballistic missiles rely on raw power and speed. Ballistic missiles are easy to target by long-range radars, but cruise missiles evade the radars by flying low, as much as thirty feet above the ground, until they destroy the target.
Why Defending Against Each Weapon Requires Different Technology
Defending against both the types of missiles require different approaches, for example for countering a ballistic missile, defense systems track the missiles from hundred miles away, for example the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system or THAADA by US, or S-500 Prometheus by Russia.
These engage the ballistic missiles using pure kinetic energy rather than using an explosive warhead.
Cruise missiles on the other hand are detected using Airborne warning aircraft or AWACS, and also using long and mid range defense systems such as S-400, PAC-3, NASAMS and Phalanx CIWS systems.
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