What is an Exocet Missile?
The Exocet missile is a French-built anti-ship missile that has been in service since 1979. The Exocet missile can deliver a 165 kg explosive warhead to a range of 70-180 km. A sea-skimming missile, the Exocet stays close enough to the water that it can be difficult to pick up on radar. There are several versions of the Exocet missile that can be launched from submarines, surface vessels, or airplanes. Several hundred of these missiles were launched by Iran during the Iran-Iraq war, and a few were launched by Argentina against United Kingdom ships during the Falklands War. Tuned for doing the greatest possible damage to ships, an Exocet missile can travel at 315 m/s (1134 km/h), meaning it hits most targets within a few minutes from launch at most. This speed is slightly under the speed of sound, which prevents the Exocet missile from creating an easily detectable sonic boom. Beginning its flight solely based on inertia, in mid-flight the missile turns on an internal radar navigational
