school me, rocket vs missile - difference?

rocket = dumb (no guidance systems )
missile = smart (guidance system )

Sometimes the Iraqis will forget to put the warhead on a rocket. Kiowa missiles have them on already.

Missile is actually military nomenclature for a (guided) missile. .mil has other names for all the unguided kinds, so the (guided) part usually gets dropped.

Not all missiles are rockets, like cruise missiles, which use jet engines and not rockets for propulsion.

Smart bombs are unpowered guided missiles, but .mil terminology for those is guided bomb or smart bomb, etc.

You guys still make it a little difficult... A missle, is an object that moves through the air at a target. The way in which it gets moving through the air has to be on purpose (dropped, thrown, propelled). A rocket, is a motor, usually defined by a cylindrical projectile that is propelled by the combustion of its contents. Basically, a rocket is just the propellent for something. My uncle worked on the Patriot Missle, which he called a rocket propelled missle. Terms and definitions, all depend on who you talk to. But the above, are the actual definitions of missle, and rocket.

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Originally Posted by spyder

You guys still make it a little difficult... A missle, is an object that moves through the air at a target. The way in which it gets moving through the air has to be on purpose (dropped, thrown, propelled). A rocket, is a motor, usually defined by a cylindrical projectile that is propelled by the combustion of its contents. Basically, a rocket is just the propellent for something. My uncle worked on the Patriot Missle, which he called a rocket propelled missle. Terms and definitions, all depend on who you talk to. But the above, are the actual definitions of missle, and rocket.

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Not in .mil/EOD/UXO circles. When related to ordnance, missile can change direction in flight whereas a rocket cannot. They are both, by your definition a missle but when talking about ordnance, it is a bit more specific than just describing a generic item.

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Originally Posted by fitz19d

A Javelin/Stinger are missiles, they can lock and track heat signatures. The Javelin with it's top down attack mode is guided to not just go straight at a target but navigate to come in from the top. Not 100% sure what you would consider a TOW, I'd say Missile, but it's just the funny duck as it's controlled by a remote wire. (Once it breaks free at the end of the cord if it goes long I suppose it then becomes a rocket aha.)

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TOW is a missile. When you break the wire, it becomes a randomly directed artillery round that will eventually impact somewhere, but almost certainly not where you'd hoped. That said, you can break the wire at almost any distance if you jerk the tube, hit any kind of obstructions, water, etc.

Oddly enough, it can happen that you ground the missile several hundred meters out, yet it still impacts the target. Or, it might pop out of the tube and land on your grill, staring at you.

Wow.

Missiles are guided, or controlled after launch and still use a rocket motor. A bullet is not a missile nor a rocket, it is a projectile. Both missiles and rockets both use on-board fuel and oxidizer to provide thurst after initial launch which may or may not be due to on-board components. A jet engine uses an on board fuel, but an atmospheric oxidizer...from an actual engineer...

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Originally Posted by coloccw

Not in .mil/EOD/UXO circles. When related to ordnance, missile can change direction in flight whereas a rocket cannot. They are both, by your definition a missle but when talking about ordnance, it is a bit more specific than just describing a generic item.

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This again is a military definition, and also, kinda outdated.

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Originally Posted by MarkCO

Wow.

Missiles are guided, or controlled after launch and still use a rocket motor. A bullet is not a missile nor a rocket, it is a projectile. Both missiles and rockets both use on-board fuel and oxidizer to provide thurst after initial launch which may or may not be due to on-board components. A jet engine uses an on board fuel, but an atmospheric oxidizer...from an actual engineer...

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I don't know if you knew this, but there are guided rockets. Look them up. Like I said, the definitions that I gave are actual "real" definitions, not military or anything else that everyone thinks over rules the normal world definitions.

All of you guys are wrong.

[Tooth]

One of you should buy my stinger missile case then you could feel cool about your knowledge![Tooth]

A missile is self propelled, and guided with 4 components: targeting/guidance, flight system, engine, and warhead. Before guidance systems they were simply "thrown objects".
The word is derived from the Latin meaning: "to send"


a powered, unguided munition in the military is a "rocket".

munitions fired from a gun are "projectiles", if they explode, they are shell or mortar bombs. if they are not fired from a gun, they are "bombs" and can either be guided or unguided (smart vs. dumb).

If they are powered through the water, they are torpedoes. They are much like bombs and can be guided or unguided.