Anti-Ship Missile
A guided weapon designed to strike and damage or sink naval vessels, using radar, infrared, or satellite guidance to find and engage targets at sea.
Anti-ship missiles are purpose-built weapons designed to find, track, and destroy warships and merchant vessels at ranges from tens to thousands of kilometers. They typically fly at low altitude to avoid radar detection, using sea-skimming flight profiles that make them extremely difficult for shipborne defenses to engage. The most famous example, the Exocet, gained notoriety during the Falklands War when Argentine forces used it to sink HMS Sheffield.
Modern anti-ship missiles come in several categories. Subsonic missiles like the Harpoon and Naval Strike Missile rely on stealth and sea-skimming to penetrate defenses. Supersonic missiles like Russia's P-800 Oniks use speed to reduce reaction time. The newest generation includes hypersonic weapons like Russia's Zircon and China's DF-21D anti-ship ballistic missile, which threatens aircraft carriers from over 1,500 kilometers away.
The growing capability and proliferation of anti-ship missiles has fundamentally reshaped naval strategy. Carrier strike groups now operate with elaborate defensive layers, and navies are investing heavily in countermeasures including electronic warfare, directed energy weapons, and distributed force concepts that present adversaries with too many targets to engage effectively.
Related Terms
Cruise Missile
A guided weapon that uses aerodynamic lift and a jet engine to fly at low altitude over long distances, navigating autonomously to its target with high precision.
Carrier Strike Group
A naval formation centered on an aircraft carrier, typically including guided-missile cruisers, destroyers, a submarine, and a supply ship, capable of projecting power anywhere on the globe.
Related Articles
The Carrier Killer: How China's DF-21D Threatens Every US Navy Ship in the Pacific
China's DF-21D is the world's first anti-ship ballistic missile, a weapon designed to hit a moving aircraft carrier from 1,500 kilometers away at Mach 10. Here's how its kill chain works, why the physics are harder than they look, and what it means for the US Navy.
LRASM: The Missile the Navy Built Specifically to Sink Chinese Aircraft Carriers
The AGM-158C LRASM can find and hit a warship without GPS, without communications, and without a human telling it which ship to attack. Built on the proven JASSM-ER airframe, this stealthy anti-ship missile represents America's answer to China's growing naval power, and its autonomous targeting changes everything about maritime warfare.