Editing Command guidance (section)

{{Short description|Type of missile guidance}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2015}}
'''Command guidance''' is a type of [[missile guidance]] in which a ground station or aircraft relay signals to a [[guided missile]] via [[radio control]] or through [[wire-guided missile|a wire connecting the missile to the launcher]] and tell the missile where to steer to intercept its target. This control may also command the missile to detonate, even if the missile has a [[fuze]].

Typically, the system giving the guidance commands is tracking both the target and the missile or missiles via [[radar]]. It determines the positions and velocities of a target and a missile, and calculates whether their paths will intersect. If not, the guidance system will relay commands to a missile, telling it to move the fins in a way that steers in the direction needed to maneuver to an intercept course with the target. If the target maneuvers, the guidance system can sense this and update the missiles' course continuously to counteract such maneuvering. If the missile passes close to the target, either its own [[proximity fuze|proximity]] or [[contact fuze]] will detonate the warhead, or the guidance system can estimate when the missile will pass near a target and send a detonation signal.

On some systems there is a dedicated [[radio antenna]] or antennas to communicate with a missile. On others, the radar can send coded pulses which a missile can sense and interpret as guidance commands. Sometimes to aid the tracking station, a missile will contain a radio transmitter, making it easier to track. Also, sometimes a tracking station has two or more radar antennas: one dedicated to track a missile and one or more dedicated to track targets. These types of systems are most likely to be able to communicate with a missile via the same radar energy used to track it.