A missile is a guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are also called guided missiles or guided rockets. There are different types of missiles, including:

• Ballistic missiles: These are primarily surface-launched from mobile launchers, silos, ships, or submarines, with air launch being theoretically possible with a weapon such as the cancelled Skybolt missile. The Russian Topol M (SS-27 Sickle B) is the fastest (7,320 m/s) missile currently in service.

• Cruise missiles: These are guided missiles powered along a low, level flight path by an air-breathing jet engine.

• Torpedoes: These are propeller-driven underwater missiles.

Missiles are used in military operations to deliver an explosive warhead with great accuracy at high speed. The missiles fuel, or propellant, is burned in an engine, creating hot exhaust gases, which are funneled through a nozzle at the rear of the missile.