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A surface-to-air missile (SAM) or ground-to-air missile (GTAM) is a missile designed to be launched from the ground to destroy aircraft or other missiles. It is one type of anti-aircraft system; in modern armed forces missiles have replaced most other forms of dedicated anti-aircraft weaponry with the anti-aircraft cannon pushed into niche roles. Contents 1 History 1.1 German efforts 1.2 Other early efforts 1.3 Smaller faster 1.4 MANPADs 2 General information 2.1 Target acquisition 3 See also 4 References 5 External links History This section requires expansion.

The first mention in history of a surface to air missile was by inventor Dr. Gustav Rasmus in 1931 in which a missile would home in on an aircraft by sound.1 German efforts

Development of such weapons started in earnest in the 1940s notably in Nazi Germany. The earliest designs were offshoots of the rocketry work being carried out by the Peenemnde teams and started as paper projects as possible developments of the work. An actual design was not presented until 1940's Feuerlilie and 1941's Wasserfall and Henschel Hs 117 Schmetterling. However none of these projects saw any real development until 1943 when the first large-scale raids by Allied air fleets started. As the urgency of the problem grew new designs were added to the mix including the Enzian and Rheintochter.

In general these designs could be split into two groups. One group flew at low speeds on the order of several hundred kilometers an hour and were guided in front of the targets and then flown towards them like an aircraft. These designs included the Feuerlilie Schmetterling and Enzian. The second group were high-speed missiles typically supersonic that flew directly towards their targets from below. Both used radio control for guidance either by eye or by comparing the returns of the missile and target on a single radar screen. Development of all of these systems had to be carried out at the same time and the war ended before any of them was ready for combat use. In-fighting between various groups in the military also hurt development.

Albert Speer was especially critical of this stating that in his opinion had the missiles been developed from the start the large scale raids of 1944 would have been impossible.2 Other early efforts

The United States Navy first began to study SAMs in a project known as Operation Bumblebee. This was in response to actions in which Navy ships were hit by air-launched Henschel Hs 293 glide bombs and Fritz X anti-ship missiles during 1943. Using these weapons the launching aircraft never came into the range of the ship's anti-aircraft guns while the missiles were too small and fast to be attacked effectively. A ramjet-powered anti-aircraft missile was proposed to destroy launcher aircraft at long range.3 Initial performance goals were target intercept at a horizontal range of 10 miles and 30000 feet altitude with a 300 to 600 pound warhead for a 30 to 60 percent kill probability.4 Heavy shipping losses to Kamikaze attacks during the Battle of Okinawa provided additional incentive for guided missile development.3

Testing began in 1945 with the PTV-N-4 Cobra built by the Applied Physics Laboratory. However development of the guidance propulsion and radar systems at the same time led to long delays and it was not until 16 years later that the RIM-8 Talos missile was cleared for operational use. In that time developments of simpler rocket engines had led to the development of the RIM-2 Terrier originally a weapon of severely limited performance with a range of only 19 km. Improved versions followed quickly and the Terrier ended up taking over many of the roles the Talos was originally designed for.

The U.S. Army started their own development project Project Nike in 1944. They saw that their anti-aircraft artillery would be effectively useless against high-flying jet aircraft. This led to the introduction of the Nike Ajax missile in 1958. This was joined by the U.S. Army Air Force's 1946 requirement for an aircraft-like weapon with extremely long range developed as part of Project Bumper. This led to the CIM-10 Bomarc with a range of over 500 km.

Soviet developments did not start in earnest until the post-war era but with the opening of the cold war this became a major effort. Stalin was worried that Moscow would be subjected to bombing efforts like those against Berlin and in 1951 demanded that a missile system to counter a 1000 bomber raid be built as quickly as possible. This led to the S-25 Berkut system (SA-1 in NATO terminology) which was designed developed and deployed in a rush program to become the first operational SAM system in the world in 1953. SA-1 was only of use for static defence against low-speed targets but with it in place time was given to develop a follow-on system. This emerged in 1957 as the famous S-75 Dvina (SA-2) a portable system with very high performance which remains in operation into the 2000s. As the nature of the threat did not change the Soviets and today Russia remained at the forefront of SAM development throughout its history. The UK followed with similar weapons notably the RAF's Bristol Bloodhound in 1958 and the Army's English Electric Thunderbird in 1959. Smaller faster All of these early systems were "heavyweight" designs with limited mobility and requiring considerable set-up. However they were also increasingly effective. By the early 1960s deployments of SAMs had rendered high-speed high-altitiude flight in combat practically suicidal. The way to avoid this was to fly lower below the line-of-sight of missile's radar systems. This demanded very different aircraft like the F-111 TSR-2 and Panavia Tornado but these designs were essentially invulnerable to these larger SAM systems. As a result SAMs evolved rapidly in the 1960s. As their targets were now being forced to fly lower due to the presence of the larger missiles engagements would necessarily be at short ranges and occur quickly. Shorter ranges meant the missiles could be much smaller which aided them in terms of mobility. By the mid-1960s almost all modern armed forces had short-range missiles mounted on trucks or light armour that could move with the armed forces they protected. Examples include the 2K12 Kub (SA-6) anf 9K33 Osa (SA-8) MIM-23 Hawk Rapier Roland and Crotale. The introduction of sea-skimming missiles in the late 60s and 70s led to additional mid- and short-range designs for defence against these targets. The RIM-7 Sea Sparrow was an early example which quickly proliferated into a wide variety of designs fielded by most navies. Many of these are adapted from earlier mobile designs but the special needs of the naval role has resulted in the continued existence of many custom missiles. MANPADs As aircraft moved ever lower and missile performance continued to improve eventually it became possible to build an effective man-portable anti-aircraft missile. Known as MANPADs the first example was a German WWII design known as the Fliegerfaust but it never entered operation. The performance gap between this weapon and jet fighters of the post-war era was so great that such designs would not be effective. But by the 1960s technology had closed this gap to a degree leading to the introduction of the FIM-43 Redeye SA-7 Grail and Blowpipe. Rapid improvement in the 1980s led to second generation designs like the FIM-92 Stinger 9K34 Strela-3 (SA-14) and Starstreak of dramatically improved performance. Through the evolution of SAMs improvements were also being made to anti-aircraft artillery but the missiles pushed them into ever shorter-range roles. By the 1980s the only remaining widespread use was point-defense of airfields and ships especially against cruise missiles. By the 1990s even these roles were being encroached on by new MANPAD and similar weapons. General information Surface-to-air missiles are classified by their guidance mobility altitude and range. Man-portable air-defense systems (MANPADS) are the smallest of SAMs and are capable of being carried and launched by a single person and thus suitable for local air defence such as against attack helicopters. They are sometimes attached to vehicles in order to increase their mobility. Generally MANPADS have a range of around five kilometres (three miles). Soviet MANPADS have been exported around the world and can still be found in many of their former client states. Other nations have developed their own MANPADS. Larger land-based SAM's can be deployed from fixed installations or mobile launchers. In the case of mobile launchers they are either wheeled or tracked. The tracked vehicles are usually armored vehicles specifically designed to carry SAMs. Larger SAMs may be deployed in fixed launchers but can be towed/re-deployed at will. The range of mobile SAMs varies greatly from just over a dozen to several hundred kilometres. For example the Russian S-400 has a claimed range of 400 km. Ship-based SAMs are also considered surface-to-air. Virtually all surface warships can be armed with SAMs. In fact naval SAMs are a necessity for all front-line surface warships. Some warship types specialize in anti-air warfare e.g. Ticonderoga-class cruisers equipped with the Aegis combat system or Kirov class cruisers with the S-300PMU Favorite missile system. Target acquisition Main article: Missile guidance Targets for non-MANPAD SAMs will usually be acquired by air-search radar then tracked before or while a SAM is "locked-on" and then fired. Potential targets if they are military aircraft will be identified as friend or foe before being engaged. See also Anti-aircraft warfare Man-portable air-defense system Missile guidance List of NATO reporting names for surface-to-air missiles List of surface-to-air missiles SEAD Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses the mission of finding and destroying SAM and AA gun installations. The SEAD mission in the United States Air Force is designated Wild Weasel. References "Plans Rocket Driven Plan To Chase And Wreck Plane" July 1931 Popular Mechanics Albert Speer (in German) Erinnerungen Propylen Verlag. pp. 375 a b "A Brief History of White Sands Proving Ground 1941-1965". New Mexico State University. http://nmsua.edu/tiopete/files/2008/12/wspgcoldbook.pdf. Retrieved 2010-08-19.  "Talos Missile History". Hays Philip R.. http://www.okieboat.com/Talos%20history.html. Retrieved 2010-08-19.  External links Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Surface-to-air missiles Wikisource has several original texts related to: Audio recordings and transcripts of Wild Weasel missions flown during the Vietnam War including attacks on SAM sites. Rest-of-World Missile Systems from the Federation of American Scientists website v d eTypes of missile By platform Air-to-air missile (AAM)  Air-to-surface missile (ASM)  Surface-to-air missile (SAM)  Surface-to-surface missile (SSM)  Ballistic missile  Intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM)  Submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM)  Anti-ballistic missile (ABM)  Intermediate-range ballistic missile (IRBM)  Cruise missile  Anti-ship missile (AShM)  Anti-submarine missile  Anti-tank missile (ATGM)  Anti-satellite weapon (ASAT)  Air-launched ballistic missile  Anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) By guidance Anti-radiation  Wire guidance  Infrared guidance  Beam riding  Laser guidance  Active radar guidance  Semi-active radar guidance  Unguided rockets Lists List of missiles  List of missiles by country  List of military rockets v d eNATO Designation for Russian and former Soviet Union missiles  Air-to-air missiles  complete list AA-1 Alkali  AA-2 Atoll  AA-3 Anab  AA-4 Awl  AA-5 Ash  AA-6 Acrid  AA-7 Apex  AA-8 Aphid  AA-9 Amos  AA-10 Alamo  AA-11 Archer  AA-12 Adder  AA-X-13 Arrow  Air-to-surface missiles  complete list AS-1 Kennel  AS-2 Kipper  AS-3 Kangaroo  AS-4 Kitchen  AS-5 Kelt  AS-6 Kingfish  AS-7 Kerry  AS-9 Kyle  AS-10 Karen  AS-11 Kilter  AS-12 Kegler  AS-13 Kingbolt  AS-14 Kedge  AS-15 Kent  AS-16 Kickback  AS-17 Krypton  AS-19 Koala  Anti-tank missiles  complete list AT-1 Snapper  AT-2 Swatter  AT-3 Sagger  AT-4 Spigot  AT-5 Spandrel  AT-6 Spiral  AT-7 Saxhorn  AT-8 Songster  AT-9 Spiral-2  AT-10 Stabber  AT-11 Sniper  AT-12 Swinger  AT-13 Saxhorn-2  -14 Spriggan  -15 Springer  AT-16 Scallion  Surface-to-air missiles  complete list Ground based SA-1 Guild  SA-2 Guideline  SA-3 Goa  SA-4 Ganef  SA-5 Gammon  SA-6 Gainful  SA-7 Grail  SA-8 Gecko  SA-9 Gaskin  SA-10 Grumble  SA-11 Gadfly  SA-12 Gladiator/Giant  SA-13 Gopher  SA-14 Gremlin  SA-15 Gauntlet  SA-16 Gimlet  SA-17 Grizzly  SA-18 Grouse  SA-19 Grison  SA-20 Gargoyle  SA-21 Growler  SA-22 Greyhound  SA-23 GladiatorGiant  SA-24 Grinch Naval based SA-N-1 Goa  SA-N-2 Guideline  SA-N-3 Goblet  SA-N-4 Gecko  SA-N-5 Grail  SA-N-6 Grumble  SA-N-7 Gadfly  SA-N-8 Gremlin  SA-N-9 Gauntlet  SA-N-10 Grouse  SA-N-11 Grison  SA-N-12 Grizzly  SA-N-14 Grouse  SA-N-20 Gargoyle  Surface-to-surface missiles  complete list Ground based SS-1 Scud  SS-2 Sibling  SS-3 Shyster  SS-4 Sandal  SS-5 Skean  SS-6 Sapwood  SS-7 Saddler  SS-8 Sasin  SS-9 Scarp  SS-10 Scrag  SS-11 Sego  SS-12 Scaleboard  SS-13 Savage  SS-14 ScampScapegoat  SS-15 Scrooge  SS-16 Sinner  SS-17 Spanker  SS-18 Satan  SS-19 Stiletto  SS-20 Saber  SS-21 Scarab  SS-22 Scaleboard  SS-23 Spider  SS-24 Scalpel  SS-25 Sickle  SS-26 Stone  SS-27 Sickle B Naval based SS-N-1 Scrubber  SS-N-2 Styx  SS-N-3 Shaddock  SS-N-4 Sark  SS-N-5 Sark/Serb  SS-N-6 Serb  SS-N-7 Starbright  SS-N-8 Sawfly  SS-N-9 Siren  SS-N-12 Sandbox  SS-N-13 Serb  SS-N-14 Silex  SS-N-15 Starfish  SS-N-16 Stallion  SS-N-17 Snipe  SS-N-18 Stingray  SS-N-19 Shipwreck  SS-N-20 Sturgeon  SS-N-21 Sampson  SS-N-22 Sunburn  SS-N-23 Skiff  SS-N-23 Sineva  SS-N-24 Scorpion  SS-N-25 Switchblade  SS-N-26   SS-N-27 Sizzler   SS-N-28   SS-N-29  SS-NX-30