Nothing Can Stop a Swarming Barge of Attacking Cruise Missiles

By Dave Majumdar

Is there a way to defend large swaths of land against a cruise missile attack?

Right now, there is no operational weapons system that can provide area air defense against terrain-hugging cruise missiles over land—only point defense is possible. However, there are systems and technologies under development that could one day provide some measure of protection.

These systems would not be a single surface-to-air missile battery, but rather a network of sensors and computers that would be able to correlate data into a single picture.

“Intercepting cruise missiles is more than a matter of launching a surface-to-air missile,” Mark Gunzinger, an airpower analyst at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments and former B-52 pilot, told The National Interest.

“Defenses against salvos of modern cruise missiles require a network of sensors that can detect low-flying and possibly low observable threats approaching target areas from multiple azimuths, secure comm links that can quickly pass data from distributed sensors to information fusion and fire control systems and personnel with appropriate training and expertise in operating the systems.”

What Gunzinger is described is a true integrated air defense system—one that relies on the sum total of multiple other systems working together to form a single coherent air picture. “In other words, it really requires a system-of-systems to effectively defeat multiple incoming cruise missiles,” Gunzinger said. “I’m not surprised with Syria’s lack of success against the recent raid.”

Above and at top — USS ‘Laboon’ launches Tomahawk missiles at Syria on April 13, 2018. U.S. Navy photos