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Article: How a cruise missile works.
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune
- Article date:
- February 27, 2007
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2007 Knight Ridder/Tribune. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Marshall Brain
We hear about cruise missiles on the news all the time. At the beginning of a war, the United States has been known to launch a hundred or more Tomahawk cruise missiles. Cruise missiles can also be used one or two at a time. There is often speculation about the possibility of using a cruise missile to hit specific targets in enemy countries.
Which leads to the obvious question: what is a cruise missile? And why are they so popular?
If you want to put it as succinctly as possible, a cruise missile is a small, robotic jet airplane that can automatically deliver a bomb to its target. No human intervention is involved, even ...