A nuclear-armed cruise missile is a guided, jet- or rocket-powered missile that flies within the atmosphere along a programmed flight path and carries a nuclear warhead instead of a conventional one. Unlike ballistic missiles, which arc through space, cruise missiles travel at relatively low altitudes, can hug terrain, and often subsonic speeds, making them harder to detect with traditional early-warning radars but slower to reach their targets.
Cruise missiles can be launched from several platforms, giving rise to standard acronyms:
- ALCM – air-launched cruise missile (e.g., the U.S. AGM-86B carried by B-52 bombers).
- SLCM – sea-launched cruise missile (e.g., the Cold War–era nuclear Tomahawk, TLAM-N, retired by the Obama administration in 2010–2013).
- GLCM – ground-launched cruise missile (e.g., the U.S. BGM-109G Gryphon deployed in Europe in the 1980s).
Nuclear cruise missiles featured prominently in late–Cold War arms control. The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) Treaty, signed by Reagan and Gorbachev in 1987, eliminated U.S. and Soviet ground-launched cruise and ballistic missiles with ranges of 500–5,500 km; both the United States and Russia withdrew from the treaty in 2019. Air- and sea-launched variants were never covered by INF. The New START Treaty (2010) limits deployed strategic warheads on heavy bombers, which include those armed with ALCMs, but does not separately cap non-strategic cruise missiles.
Current programs include the U.S. AGM-181 Long Range Stand Off (LRSO) weapon, intended to replace the aging AGM-86B, and Russia's Kh-102 ALCM and 9M729 ground-launched system, the latter of which the United States cited as a material breach of the INF Treaty. China is also assessed by Western analysts to be developing nuclear-capable cruise missiles, though Beijing has not publicly confirmed this. Because cruise missiles can be dual-capable—carrying either a conventional or nuclear warhead—they raise concerns about discrimination ambiguity in a crisis.
Example
In 2019, the United States withdrew from the INF Treaty, citing Russia's 9M729 ground-launched cruise missile, which Washington assessed as nuclear-capable and in violation of the treaty's range limits.
Frequently asked questions
A cruise missile flies within the atmosphere under continuous propulsion and guidance, while a ballistic missile follows an arcing trajectory largely outside the atmosphere after an initial boost phase.
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