will missiles and missiles technology be a part of this Aviation and aerospace

Question

Proposal: Aviation and Aerospace

Is there space for questioning and answering about the topic of missiles

Answer 1

My reasons for allowing missile questions:

• Missile propulsion, control, and navigation are very much aerospace topics (and have common aspects with small aircraft).
• Missiles are capable of achieving hypersonic flight, which is a distinct and interesting subsection of aerodynamics.
• Military application is defined by a missile's payload, not the missile itself. Non-military applications for missiles (such as research) do exist, and questions about the non-military aspects of missiles would be off-topic on Military.
• Missiles have some common elements with rockets, but are distinct in ways that would be off-topic for Space Exploration, because they aren't necessarily related to exploring space.
• Missiles certainly ARE different from common aircraft, but that is a reason to include them. An aviation and aerospace topic that only discussed airplanes would be incomplete.

I can see how pilots might not be interested in missile topics. But this site also welcomes:

...ATCs, mechanics, aero and astro-engineers, students and enthusiasts

A site concerned with the science of flight would be diminished if it excluded missiles from the discussion.

Answer 2

Sure, aerodynamics will be covered by this site and a missile definitely falls into this realm. There will be a little bit of crossover with the Space guys (if you have questions about missiles that leave the atmosphere) but that could probably be asked on either site and get good answers.

Answer 3

Let's put the alternative answer and see who supports it.

Missiles are very different from 'planes', in both technology and function. 'Aviation' normally implies manned aircraft, and missiles pretty much never fall into that. Also missiles are almost invariably military, or possibly space. They would find a place on sites devoted to each of those. Lets look at some specific:

• Ground-to-ground missiles, e.g. anti-tank missiles. Extremely peripheral in their relationship to aviation. These missile generally have very primitive aerodynamics. They don't have pilots, maintenence, navigation, or really anything much in common with a plane.
• Air-to-air missiles. These are specifically weapon systems, and so much more applicable to military. While I can imagine some questions about those missile applicable to aviation, questions about their working would be much more applicable to Military.
• Ground to air missiles. Very similar to the above. So is air-to-ground.
• Inter-continental missiles. Probably the most applicable to this site, in that they 'fly' at a similar altitude to actual planes. But still they have little overlap with aircraft in use, function, technology or community of interest.

The overlap of community between those interested in planes and those interested in missiles is very small, and they shouldn't be included. If a question is equally applicable to a missile and an aircraft, then it can be included.

There are some topics that could be on-topic, even if they are about missiles - I would expect that ones explicitly related to aerodynamics would be OK ("Why do the steering fins of a missile rotate as a whole rather than have flaps at the back?"). But there are plenty of possible missile-related questions that are nothing to do with aviation or aeronatics.

Let me be more explicit about some questions about missiles that I believe should be off topic:

1. What is the maximum range of an AT-12 Swinger ground-launched anti-tank missile? (Compare "What is the maximum range of a Boeing 737", which should be on-topic)
2. How many crew does it take to fire a Sagger anti-tank missile? (Compare "How many crew does it take to fly a Cessna Citation", which should be on-topic)
3. "What is the propulsion system of a Swatter anti-tank missile?" (Compare "What engines are used by an F22?", which should be on-topic).

Answer 4

Would Missile and Missile Technology not fall into a defense category?

There is no doubt that the aerodynamics of missile flight would be relevant, but the application of the technology should not be part of this site as it is irrelevant to the Aviation industry, unless you are on the receiving end of one : )