Whenever Palestine and Israel start going at each other, this question comes up in my head, but this time I remembered to ask it.
TIA
Whenever Palestine and Israel start going at each other, this question comes up in my head, but this time I remembered to ask it.
TIA
Rockets have a destination, or an individual purpose. Missiles have a target. Rockets use self-oxidizing engines; missiles can use those or air-breathing ones. Rockets may or may not have a guidance system; missiles do.
I won’t pretend to understand the distinction you’re making here, but the other stuff makes sense to me. Thanks!!
Apollo 11’s rocket had a destination, and an individual purpose. It didn’t have a target. Clearer?
the word “missile” generally refers to any object in flight, particularly one that was hurled/launched in some way. Spears and arrows are kinds of missiles
In more modern military coloquial speak, missiles are more often used to refer to more sophisticated, aimed weapons. Even if it doesn’t have a guidance system, most modern militaries at least invest in the ability to aim.
They keep referring to what the Palestinians are shooting as “rockets” because that’s literally all that they are, and they are not aiming them at all. They’re just unsophisticated tubes with a point and fins, filled with rocket fuel on one end and a warhead on the other, and they’re only aiming them into Israel generally. So “rockets” is used for these less sophistacted things.
Are the rockets the Palestinians using even bought from a military/leftovers from the soviets? Or are they making some of them?
from dictionary.com:
missile: an object or weapon for throwing, hurling, or shooting, as a stone, bullet, or arrow.
guided missile: an aerial missile, as a rocket, steered during its flight by radio signals, clockwork controls, etc.
ballistic missile: any missile that, after being launched and possibly guided during takeoff, travels unpowered in a ballistic trajectory.
rocket: any of various simple or complex tubelike devices containing combustibles that on being ignited liberate gases whose action propels the tube through the air: used for pyrotechnic effect, signaling, carrying a lifeline, hurling explosives at an enemy, putting a space vehicle into orbit, etc.
rocket engine: a reaction engine that produces a thrust due to an exhaust consisting entirely of material, as oxidizer, fuel, and inert matter, that has been carried with the engine in the vehicle it propels, none of the propellant being derived from the medium through which the vehicle moves.
Historically, rocket was almost always the word used. You start seeing some uses of missile for projectiles from mortars in WWI but Goddard and the other pioneers in the inter-war era almost always used rocket and had them referred to as rockets.
The word rocket zooms up starting in WWII and missile lags by about a decade, not getting common until the concept of intercontinental war via missile became a hot topic. Willy Ley’s classic book on the subject appeared as *Rockets *in 1944, as Rockets and Space Travel in 1947, and finally as Rockets, Missiles, and Space Travel in 1951, and I consider him a leading indicator.
Missile seems to be taking over from rocket as the most-used term because war uses have predominated since the end of the Apollo era.
From a simple pendantic standpoint the words have different but overlapping meanings: a missile is an offensive object directed at a target, a rocket is a means of propulsion. A rocket need not be a weapon, and a missile need not be rocket-powered.
I think the reason that the word “rocket” is used to here is that ever since the military appropriated the word “missile” post-WW2, it has come to denote relatively sophisticated weaponry with some form of guidance or homing/targeting system. The Hamas militants are using simple homemade rockets that are basically just flying pipes with various types of (often also homemade) explosive warheads that are just fired off in the general direction of the targets. The term “rocket” is useful to discriminate from true missiles because if, say, Hamas acquired any Iranian missiles as they are rumored to have done, that would be a whole different class of weaponry.
Missile seems to be taking over from rocket as the most-used term because war uses have predominated since the end of the Apollo era.
Actually these days I rarely see the word “rocket” outside the context of this sort of guerrilla warfare. Modern missiles are usually referred to as such, and rockets used to carry science payloads to outer space are more often referred to as “launch vehicles”. Other than describing the primitive weaponry of rebel militants, the term “rocket” seems now relegated to the pleasantly nostalgic domain of science fiction stories and 1950s history.
I always heard the Soviet military’s ICBM wing referred to as Strategic Rocket Forces, though Wikipedia here prefers “Strategic Missile Troops.” Was the translation using “Rocket” based on some rationale or usage in the original Russian, or was it just to make them sound more exotic (or perhaps less advanced)?
I always heard the Soviet military’s ICBM wing referred to as Strategic Rocket Forces, though Wikipedia here prefers “Strategic Missile Troops.” Was the translation using “Rocket” based on some rationale or usage in the original Russian, or was it just to make them sound more exotic (or perhaps less advanced)?
The original Russian is Ракетные войска стратегического назначения. Ракетные (Raketnye) probably does translate better to rocket than missile. The whole name means Strategic Target Rocket Troops.
the original russian is Ракетные войска стратегического назначения. Ракетные (raketnye) probably does translate better to rocket than missile. The whole name means strategic target rocket troops.
Ракетные! Да! Спутниковое любви!
I think the reason that the word “rocket” is used to here is that ever since the military appropriated the word “missile” post-WW2, it has come to denote relatively sophisticated weaponry with some form of guidance or homing/targeting system. The Hamas militants are using simple homemade rockets that are basically just flying pipes with various types of (often also homemade) explosive warheads that are just fired off in the general direction of the targets. The term “rocket” is useful to discriminate from true missiles because if, say, Hamas acquired any Iranian missiles as they are rumored to have done, that would be a whole different class of weaponry.
For example, older/simpler shoulder-mounted launchers (such as the good old RPG) fire “rockets” (which just travel in the direction you fired them, more or less) whereas newer, smarter devices like the Stinger and Javelin (actually there are two completely different Javelins, one American and one British) fire missiles which are guided at a tracked target. Rather than travel in a (relatively) straight line like a rocket, the Javelin (US version) can first travel upwards and then come back down at a steep angle to target the top of armoured vehicles, where they are most vulnerable. The missiles each cost tens of thousands of dollars.
From a simple pendantic standpoint
You mean like this?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Actually these days I rarely see the word “rocket” outside the context of this sort of guerrilla warfare. Modern missiles are usually referred to as such, and rockets used to carry science payloads to outer space are more often referred to as “launch vehicles”. Other than describing the primitive weaponry of rebel militants, the term “rocket” seems now relegated to the pleasantly nostalgic domain of science fiction stories and 1950s history.
Using one-year increments and changing the timeline to 1960-2008 (the terminus) produces a smoother curve, with missile consistently ahead of rocket but not by all that much recently. Both appear to be used regularly in a number of contexts.
Maybe too many. Rocket is confounded by the expression “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist” and similar metaphors for brains and for sports teams like the Houston Rockets. A hard subject to pin down.
The original Russian is Ракетные войска стратегического назначения. Ракетные (Raketnye) probably does translate better to rocket than missile. The whole name means Strategic Target Rocket Troops.
Not target. Purpose. Strategically-purposed Rocket Forces. And in Russian “rocket” and “missile” are the same word.
Quoth wolfpup:
…and rockets used to carry science payloads to outer space are more often referred to as “launch vehicles”.
Only in very formal contexts. In most actual usage by the people who work with them, they’re still “rockets”.
In modern usage, it’s pretty simple. Rockets are unguided, while missiles are guided.
Ballistic missiles are guided, but for all intents and purposes follow a ballistic trajectory and the guidance is intended to tweak the ballistic trajectory so that the missile hits the target. There’s no actual maneuvering like there is with say… a AIM-9 Sidewinder.
Rockets are pretty much ballistic by nature, while missiles aren’t necessarily.
The confounding thing is the usage of “rocket” as a descriptor for things using the same propulsion methods- “rocket car”, "rocket-propelled’, etc… Some are rockets, some are actually missiles, and some are neither.
For example, a RPG is a rocket-propelled grenade, but acts essentially like a rocket. The Saturn 5 was more like a missile than anything, since it was kept stable and on course by internal mechanisms.
You mean like this?
Sorry, couldn’t resist.
“Pendantic”? :smack: Very late at night, the fingers they still type fast, but the brain she no work so good.
In modern usage, it’s pretty simple. Rockets are unguided, while missiles are guided.
Certainly the best definition for what is going on between Hamas and Israel.
“Pendantic”? :smack: Very late at night, the fingers they still type fast, but the brain she no work so good.
Yeah, but it prodded me to find a very cool site.
For those who didn’t click the link it’s www.museumofrobots.com/store.
Correct me if I am wrong, but IIRC, the technical terms is that
i) Rocket= Refers to the type of propulsion system employed, rather like Jet or propellor for planes, or steam engine or diesel for trains?
ii) Missile to something which follows a set trajectory to a target, the Roman catapult projectile , an arrow, javelin or even a cricket ball from the outfield is technically a missile, even though propulsion system is human power.
EDIT: Damn you Wolfpup.