Missiles, Launchers and Shields: Guided Weapons from the V-weapons to the DF-26

The Vergeltungswaffen were the V-1 cruise missile, the V-2 ballistic missile and the V-3 cannon. The V-1 and V-2 were used from 1944 to 1945 against Britain, France and Belgium, and the entity page records about eighteen thousand deaths, mostly civilians, with London, Antwerp and Liege the main targets.

Britain principal air-dropped nuclear weapon served the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force from 1966 until 1998, longer than any other British nuclear bomb. It came in tactical and strategic variants of roughly 10, 190 and 450 kilotons, with about 319 built.

A shoulder-fired, wire-guided anti-tank missile first fielded in January 1975, made to defeat Soviet tanks such as the T-55, T-62 and T-72. It was used in the Persian Gulf War and replaced in United States service by the Javelin in 2001, though other militaries still field it.

An Israeli family of air-to-surface missiles, in service from 1985 and sold to export customers. The United States operates the missile as the AGM-142 Have Nap, and a submarine-launched variant of the Popeye Turbo has been speculated to serve in Israeli nuclear forces.

A shipborne canister launcher in United States Navy service since 1986, drawn from work on the Aegis Combat System. The same canisters can fire surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and anti-submarine missiles, and the system is also operated by navies including those of Australia, Japan, Germany and the United Kingdom.

A French fire-and-forget missile developed from 1982 and introduced in 1996, built in radar-guided and infrared-guided versions to filter out chaff and decoy flares. It arms the Rafale and Mirage 2000 and has been adapted into the ground-based VL MICA and the naval VL MICA-M.

An Israeli active protection system from Rafael that supplements a vehicle armor against guided missiles and rocket-propelled grenades. It has been operational since 2009, made its first combat intercept in March 2011, and is fitted to Merkava Mark 4 tanks and Namer carriers.

A Russian truck-mounted point-defense system that pairs guided missiles with twin 30mm autocannons against aircraft, helicopters, cruise missiles and drones flying low. The Pantsir-S1 was adopted in November 2012, and the upgraded Pantsir-S2 followed in 2015.

A Chinese intermediate-range ballistic missile revealed at a 2015 parade and fielded from around 2016, able to strike both land targets and ships. It has a range of about 5,000 kilometers and can carry conventional or thermonuclear warheads, which earned it the nickname Guam Express.