The Best Cruise Missiles

What are the Best  Cruise Missiles? the Iskander-M or the Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk?

1- Iskander-M:

Iskander-M is a short-range ballistic missile system, used by the Russian Army. Normally it carries cruise missiles with a maximum range of 400 km. However it has a secondary capability to launch R-500 intermediate-range cruise missiles. These carry less payload but has a much longer range. Once cruise missiles are loaded, the system is referred as Iskander-K. The letter "K" in the designation stands for "Krylataja", or "cruise".

The R-500 cruise missiles are carried and launched in the same manner as Iskander's ballistic missiles. Each road mobile launcher can be equipped with two R-500 cruise missiles. Each missile can be targeted independently.

Russian official sources claim that the R-500 missile, also known as 9M728, has a range of 490 km. It is more than 400 km range of the Iskander's standard short-range ballistic missile. Though at a cost of much lower payload. Some sources report that it might potentially have a range of 1 500 km. The R-500 carries a conventional 500 kg warhead, or nuclear warhead with a yield of around 10-50 kT. It is likely that there are several different conventional warheads, including cluster, fuel-air explosive, and bunker-busting. 

Were deployed operationally in 2017. The main role of the R-500 missiles is to strike the US ballistic missile shield components, as well as NATO air defense systems located in Europe.

There is also a similar 3M-14 cruise missile, used by a Russian Navy's Kalibr system. These Russian sea-launched missiles were recently used against targets in Syria. Both missiles not only look similar, but are made by the same Novator company. The 9M728 is essentially a modified ground-launched version of the sea-launched 3M-14 cruise missile.

A booster propels the missile from its container. In flight the wings are deployed. This cruise missile has a flight altitude of up to 6 km and follows terrain. In terminal phased it descends to a low altitude (50-150 meters), and maneuvers in order to overcome air defense systems.

The R-500 missile has an astro-inertial navigation, but can also receive Russian GLONASS satellite navigation system update. The missile has a CEP of just around 5 meters. Most likely that these missiles are capable of hitting moving targets, as target coordination can be adjusted while the missile is in-flight.

The Transport-Erector-Launcher (TEL) vehicle can launch its missiles R-500 missiles within 16 minutes from traveling, or 4 minutes from the highest readiness. The second missile can be launched in less than a minute once the first missile is launched.

The TEL vehicle is based on Belarusian MZKT-7930 Astrolog 8x8 high mobility chassis. It is powered by the YaMZ-846 diesel engine, developing 500 hp. Vehicle can be airlifted by the An-124 transport aircraft.

2- Tomahawk:

The Raytheon BGM-109 Tomahawk is without a doubt the best-known and most combat-tested cruise missile in the West. It carries a heavy payload over a very long distance, range of fire up to 2 500 km and can be launched from a multitude of different platforms.

The Tomahawk is designed to be launched from ships and ground-based launchers (BGM designation), submarines (UGM designation), and aircraft (AGM designation). For the sake of simplicity, these Tomahawk variants will all be described as "BGM-109s". Also note that the submarine and surface ship launched versions are all basically the same, while the BGM-109G differs only in having a different nuclear warhead from the BGM-109A. The AGM-109 series did not enter service, the USAF opting instead for the AGM-86 ALCM.

The form of the BGM-109 Tomahawk is very simple, with a long, tubular fuselage, dome-like nose, small, crucifix-shaped stabilizer fins on the tail, and two small (almost fin-like) wings in the mid-section.

All operational Tomahawk variants are launched using an Atlantic Research MK 106 solid-propellant rocket booster, which produces 26.7kN (6 000 lbs) of thrust for 12 seconds. When the booster runs out of fuel, the Tomahawk is propelled though the rest of its flight by a Williams F107 turbofan engine. Designed expressly for powering cruise missiles, the F107 is also propelled by a special, high-density aviation turbine fuel that withstands harsh weather, rough handling, and long-term storage better than more conventional jet fuels.

The land attack models use terrain-following radar, along with two additional functions which at the time of the missile's debut were quite novel. The first of these is TERrain COntour Matching (TERCOM), which uses three-dimensional imagery to form a clearer picture of the terrain the missile is meant to follow (thus greatly reducing the chances of the missile going off-course), and also to allow it to weave its way through vertical terrain (e.g., between the peaks of a mountain range) if necessary. The second of these features is Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC), which compares pre-programmed digital radar images of the flight path and/or target location to the images gathered from what the high-resolution terrain-following radar can "see".

The land attack Tomahawks also employ Inertial Navigation System (INS) to assist in their guidance, and models introduced since the mid-1990s also include GPS. These have improved the missile's handling and accuracy, although it still demonstrates some tendency to veer off-course under some conditions.

The anti-ship model, the BGM-109B, is the only variant of the Tomahawk that uses active radar homing guidance. This guidance method requires no pre-programming prior to launch (the terrain-following models need to be preprogrammed to fly on a fixed course, along with data on all the terrain below it), as it is "fire and forget"; meaning the launch platform points the BGM-109B in the direction of the target, launches it, and the missile is autonomous throughout the rest of its flight.

The most extensive use of Tomahawks in a single war to date came in 2003, during the Invasion of Iraq, in which 802 Tomahawks were launched into that country. Despite the additional guidance technology that the Tomahawk fleet had been updated with, the results were no better than during Desert Storm, as a large percentage of the missiles again landed in the wrong areas --- some even fell in Turkey, Syria, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.

A number of Tomahawks were launched into Libya in 2011, and into Syria in 2014. It was noted by a retired US Navy Admiral in a television interview that the Tomahawk was not only accurate enough to destroy a specific building in Damascus if required, but also that the Navy could even choose which window for it to enter the building through; though while the Tomahawk has indeed proven itself to be that accurate time and again, its ability to *locate* its target still leaves something to be desired.

The only current operators of the Tomahawk are the United Kingdom and the United States. The future of the BGM-109 Tomahawk cruise missile is shrouded in uncertainty. Half of the production total have already been expended in combat and training, and in 2014 it was decided to gradually end its production starting in 2016. It is very unlikely that the Tomahawk will proliferate to any other nations, given the age of the system.