An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. 

An aircraft carrier is not a mere big vessel that is equipped to engage in warfare. With never-ending territorial disputes worldwide, the aircraft carrier is a symbol of prestige and power for the navies across the world. These new ‘battleships’ have been one of the biggest assets to the warfare merchandise of all nations. Ever since their inception, these ships have made a huge difference for the defence system of several countries.

Some estimates put it at 100 kilotons, which would be five times more powerful than Fat Man, the bomb dropped on Nagasaki by the US in 1945 and which killed 70,000 people instantly. But it still pales in comparison to the largest man-made explosion ever on Earth - the Soviet Union's Tsar Bomba - King of Bombs - detonated in 1961 in the height of the nuclear arms race. That hydrogen bomb unleashed a staggering power of 50,000 kilotons, or 50 megatons.

In their hunger for power, humans have always searched for the perfect weaponry. Empires carved out in history were often the result of strategic planning, political ingenuity, and the most sophisticated warfare of their time. The careful selection of weapons at times proved to be the crucial difference between winning a battle or being slaughtered on the field. The earth has been bled upon during times of war from one century to another, the only difference being the style and choice of the weapon wielded.. very weapon is made with a specific purpose in mind. Weapons are constantly evolving to meet the needs of the warriors who wield them. Sometimes though, these needs produce weapons that, while no less efficient at executing their purpose, are ultimately quite unique.

Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high precision. Cruise missiles of today are even capable of travelling at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and are able to fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low-altitude trajectory. Out of all the cruise missiles in the world, today we would like to pick the 10 best of them all. Enjoy watching. Cheers!

What is a cruise missile?

Cruise missiles, although similar to ballistic missiles in some regards, provide an alternate means to deliver a lethal payload rapidly and accurately to a target. Cruise missiles differ from ballistic missiles in that they fly towards their target at lower altitudes, remaining within the Earth’s atmosphere throughout their trajectory. Cruise missiles are defined as “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.” Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and unmanned control-guided helicopters or aircraft can be included in this definition, but will not be discussed on this page.

The cruise missile has its beginnings in World War I, when the U.S. Army developed the Kettering Bug, an unmanned aerial bomb designed to strike targets beyond the range of artillery and too dangerous for piloted aircraft. However, the Kettering Bug was never used in combat.  Instead, the modern cruise missile originates more from the V-1 Flying Bomb used by the Germany in the last months of World War II. 

Launch Platforms

Cruise missiles are capable of being launched from multiple ground, air, sea and submarine platforms. Both fighter and long-range bomber aircraft are capable of carrying and launching cruise missiles.  On the ground, cruise missiles are most commonly launched by road-mobile systems due to the inherent advantages of mobility, but they can also be launched from fixed platforms. 

Russian warships in the Caspian Sea launch Kalibr cruise missiles towards targets inside Syria.

At sea, various surface ships and submarines can launch cruise missiles. Submarines are capable of launching while surfaced or submerged using torpedo fixtures or vertical launch tubes.  In April 2010 Kontsern-Morinformsistema-Agat, a Russian company, began marketing a version of the Russian Kalibr cruise missile housed in and capable of being launched from a standard shipping container.This would allow any vehicle capable of carrying a standard shipping container to become a discreet platform from which to launch cruise missiles. 

Propulsion and Flight

Cruise missiles utilize jet engines as their primary method of propulsion. Most cruise missiles are subsonic and use Turbofan and Turbojet engines. While less common, supersonic and hypersonic cruise missiles utilize Ramjet and Scramjet engines. Some also use rocket motor propulsion as a booster in the first phase of flight or to accelerate to supersonic speeds in the terminal phase. 

Cruise missiles can fly to their targets at varying altitudes as long as they remain within the atmosphere. The trajectory of most remains close to the Earth’s surface, sometimes skimming just meters above the ground. Their low flight path makes it much harder for most radar and sensor systems to detect the missile, unless the radar or sensor system is airborne and directed towards the ground.  Some cruise missiles will fly only at high altitudes and dive sharply down once they reach their target. Flying at high altitude can extend the range of the missile because it’s more fuel-efficient than flying at lower altitudes. However, this also makes the missile more susceptible to missile defense systems since today’s radars and sensors are typically positioned to detect and track high altitude threats.  Cruise missiles can also mix their flight trajectory between high and low altitude in order to get the benefits of both. In this instance, cruise missiles will typically fly at a high altitude early in their flight to help extend their range, but as they approach their target, or missile defenses, they will fly down to a lower sea skimming/terrain hugging altitude to help it evade detection and defenses. 

Flight test of Pakistan’s Ra’ad cruise missile.

Guidance

Cruise missiles can use multiple guidance methods in order to accurately place their ordinance on the desired target and avoid missile defense systems. One of the first methods used by cruise missiles was inertial guidance, which is still used today and allows the missile to fly along a flight path programmed prior to launch. Another guidance method is terrain contour matching (TERCOM), which compares a terrain map to the current terrain the missile is flying over to ensure the missile is flying on the correct path. Some use GPS systems, which require connection to either GPS or GLONASS satellite system, but can help ensure the missile follows the correct flight path and strikes the final target using specific coordinates with a high degree of accuracy. 

Other guidance methods are primarily used in the terminal phase of flight to increase accuracy. One is a laser guided system which uses a sensor to detect its target painted by a laser, however this can be unreliable because dust and smoke can interfere with the laser or the missile may not always be able to see the laser or painted target. Another terminal guidance method is TV guidance, in which an operator uses a camera in the nose of the missile to visually identify and manually guide the missile to the target in its final phase. This method also gives the operator the option to abort the strike in the final phase if an anomaly is detected.  A radar seeker is also used in the nose of some missiles to identify and/or keep the missile on target in the terminal phase. These radar seekers use either passive radar, which detect radar emissions of their target, or active radar, which emit their own radar to detect their target. Infrared (IR) guidance – directing the missile towards heat emitting objects, such as engines  – may also be used by cruise missiles in the terminal phase.  However, because of its simplicity, IR guidance cannot differentiate between friendly, adversarial, or extraneous IR signals in a crowded battlefield, and is usually used in conjunction with other guidance systems. The last guidance system used by cruise missiles is Digital Scene Matching Area Correlation (DSMAC), which uses a camera in the missile to find the desired target and match it to a stored image using an image correlator. 

Payload

Cruise missiles are typically armed with conventional or nuclear warheads, but can also be equipped with chemical or biological warheads. The warhead weight and yield can vary widely, depending on the specific cruise missile and its mission.

An atomic bomb uses either uranium or plutonium and relies on fission, a nuclear reaction in which a nucleus or an atom breaks apart into two pieces. ... The hydrogen bomb relies on fusion, the process of taking two separate atoms and putting them together to form a third atom...

Comparing the power of conventional military forces is quite complicated, which is part of what makes the annual Global Firepower rankings so noteworthy. China, for instance, has only 1 operational aircraft carrier to the US’s 11, but the People’s Liberation Army-Navy is testing its second carrier at sea and has plans to build more. The US is locked in an escalating face-off with top rivals Russia and China. But head-to-head comparisons of military strength are hard to come by.

The 2020 military strength ranking brings the USA in the first place of the list, the Russia second and the China third. The USA is ranked first out of 138 countries holding a PwrIndx rating of 0.0606. The United States retains its top spot as the undisputed military power in the world – both numerically and technologically. Total military personnel of USA is estimated at about 2,260,000 while the airpower total strength rating is 13,264, the highest among the 138 countries of the list.

Fighter aircraft are a vital component of any air force and examples such as the F-35 Lightning and F-22 Raptor demonstrate their vast superiority. Military power channel analyses the top ten best fighter aircraft in the world, based on aircraft specifications, technology, armament fit and performance.

The U.S.-made FGM-148 Javelin is one of the premier portable anti-tank missile systems in the world. It’s also an expensive piece of kit, with each missile typically costing more than the targets it eliminates. Here's How Powerful is America's Javelin Anti Tank Missile

If you have a fascination with fighter jets, chances are you’ve always wanted to strap into some of the most dynamic aircraft in the world and take them for a whirl yourself. That’s probably not going to happen in real life. So why not take to the skies in video games?

Flight simulators are the perfect option for aviation enthusiasts who are stuck at home. You can take control of your favorite plane with true-to-life cockpits, fly in and out of popular airports, navigate real-life weather models, and experience incredibly detailed 3D graphics.

There are many flight simulators on the market to choose from. Some simulators are incredibly intricate and authentic with a steep learning curve, and others are a bit easy to jump straight into.

Military technology keeps advancing at incredible rates. If you think back to World War II and see the weapons compared to today’s weapons, it’s simply mind-boggling just how far advanced things are becoming, and from the looks of it, warfare is poised to become more dangerous than it ever was. From drones in the sky, drone tanks fitted with incredible weaponry, to small unmanned aircraft that are launched from carriers in the sky! Security clearance has been granted! Check out these insane secret military weapons.

The rapid development of aircraft in the 1920’s and 1930’s far outpaced the development of aviation infrastructure to support them. Runways, even by the late 1930’s, were rare and often little more than an open grass field, useful only for the smallest and lightest of airplanes. It would be at least another decade until many cities developed suitable airports. But commercial aviation wasn’t going to wait around.

By the 1930’s large, luxurious flying boats were already carrying passengers to far-flung exotic destinations. Requiring only a reasonably calm stretch of water and minimal infrastructure, flying boats kick started an early era of air travel. Destinations that once took weeks to reach by boat could now be reached in just a matter of days. For the lucky few who could afford it, flying boats were simply the most luxurious way to travel. As they were generally larger and more capable than land-based aircraft, many were convinced that the future of long-range air travel belonged to large flying boats.

Antimatter is the opposite of normal matter. More specifically, the sub-atomic particles of antimatter have properties opposite those of normal matter. The electrical charge of those particles is reversed. Antimatter was created along with matter after the Big Bang, but antimatter is rare in today's universe, and scientists aren't sure why.

To better understand antimatter, one needs to know more about matter. Matter is made up of atoms, which are the basic units of chemical elements such as hydrogen, helium or oxygen. Each element has a certain number of atoms: Hydrogen has one atom; helium has two atoms; and so on.