A ramjet missile that homes on the radar trying to detect it. The Kh-31P is why Ukrainian Patriot crews cannot leave their radars radiating, and why the air-defence problem in Ukraine is as much about emissions discipline as about interceptor stocks.
A 1960s anti-ship missile carrying nearly a tonne of explosive at Mach 4.6, fired at cities it was never designed to hit. Its error is measured in hundreds of metres, which is why its record in Ukraine is a record of civilian casualties.
The world's fastest cruise missile in service — India and Russia's BrahMos is a Mach-3 ramjet weapon that hits ships and land targets from sea, land, air and submarine. India used it in combat against Pakistan in 2025 and now exports it to the Philippines.
Taiwan's "carrier killer" — the ramjet-powered Hsiung Feng III streaks toward enemy ships at around Mach 3, too fast for many defences to react. Fired from warships, coastal batteries and fighter jets, it is a core asymmetric weapon meant to make any Chinese invasion fleet pay a heavy price.
Russia's Mach-2.5 ramjet cruise missile and the Bastion-P coastal batteries that fire it — designed to kill ships, but used relentlessly against Ukrainian land targets because its speed makes it brutally hard to intercept. The parent design of India's BrahMos.
Israel's supersonic stand-off missile — a low-cost, quasi-ballistic strike weapon derived from the EXTRA artillery rocket that lets fighters engage high-value fixed targets from outside enemy air defenses.
Russia's supersonic variable-geometry long-range bomber — a stand-off launch platform for the near-unstoppable Kh-22/Kh-32 heavy missile, now contracting under the weight of attrition, precision-strike inadequacy, and a stalled modernization program.
Russia's Mach-2-capable strategic heavy bomber and standoff cruise-missile carrier — the largest and fastest supersonic aircraft ever fielded, modernized with new-build Tu-160M aircraft entering service despite aging fleet challenges.