Command guidance is a type of missile guidance in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a guided missile via radio control or through a wire connecting the missile to the launcher and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its target. An advantage is that costly tracking hardware is safely positioned on the ground rather than the missile, and is hence able to be reused after the destruction of the missile.
Examples
Examples of missiles which use command guidance include:
- Russian: S-25 Berkut, S-75 Dvina, S-125 Neva/Pechora, 9K330 Tor, 2K11 Krug
- American: Nike Ajax, Nike Hercules, Nike Zeus
- Indian: Akash
Older western missiles tend to use pure semi-active radar homing.
Pure command guidance is not normally used in modern surface-to-air missile (SAM) systems since it is too inaccurate during the terminal phase, when a missile is about to intercept a target. This is because the ground-based radars are distant from the target and the returned signal lacks resolution. However, it is still quite practical to use it to guide a missile to a location near a target, and then use another more accurate guidance method to intercept the target. Almost any type of terminal guidance can be used, but the most common are semi-active radar homing (SARH) or active radar homing (ARH).
Examples of missiles which use command guidance with terminal SARH include:
- Russian: SA-5 'Gammon', SA-6 'Gainful', SA-11 'Gadfly', SA-17 'Grizzly'
- American: RIM-67 Standard Missile 2 (SM-2)
Examples of missiles which use command guidance with terminal ARH include:
- Russian: S-300VM missile system, S-350E, S-400, S-500
- American: RIM-174 Standard ERAM, MIM-104F Patriot Advanced Capability 3 (PAC-3)