Yemen rebel missile shot down near Saudi capital ahead of Trump arrival
Source: The independent
Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia said it shot down a ballistic missile, fired by Yemeni rebels, southwest of the capital Riyadh late Friday, ahead of US President Donald Trump’s arrival in the Sunni-led kingdom.
Air defence units “intercepted a ballistic missile that was launched by Huthi militias”, and it fell over an unpopulated area 180 kilometres from Riyadh, the Saudi-led coalition said in a statement.
Trump, whose country provides weapons, intelligence and aerial refuelling for the coalition, is due to arrive on Saturday for two days of summits with Saudi, Gulf and Muslim leaders.
The missile would be the longest range attempted by the Huthi rebels and their allies, former members of Yemen’s security forces linked to ex-president Ali Abdullah Saleh, since they began retaliatory attacks against the kingdom two years ago.
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Read more: https://www.independent.co.ug/yemen-rebel-missile-shot-near-saudi-capital-ahead-trump-arrival/
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The word ballistic is defined as "moves under the force of gravity only". For the purposes of weapons, a ballistic weapon has no guidance (or very little), while a guided weapon has some form of course correction to ensure it hits its target.
The difference between the two is in their usage. A ballistic missile (also known as a rocket; ignore the relation to "rocket engine"
has a large enough warhead that accuracy is irrelevant. Unguided bombs are usually either large, or dropped in large groups (carpet bombing, cluster munitions, etc) to affect a large area without the need for precision.
Guided weapons can utilize a smaller warhead because they can be delivered on target more reliably. Cruise missiles can have tiny payloads to minimize collateral damage while still accomplishing their mission. Guided bombs can be dropped from extraordinary altitudes, well beyond visual range, and still land within centimeters of their target.
However, I would hazard a guess to say that all modern nuclear weapons are guided in some form, and that "ICBM" is a bit of a misnomer. When you're firing a weapon that can destroy an entire city, missing by a city block or ten isn't important. This was the original design behind "ballistic" nuclear weapons.
