A long-range missile attack depends on detection, identification, continuous tracking, weapon launch, and guidance updates. A target can move far during a long missile flight, so an old coordinate is not a firing solution. Satellites and airborne early-warning aircraft help build the picture, but both can be jammed, deceived, attacked, or forced away. The same logic shaped earlier naval warfare: long-range weapons are useful only when a resilient scouting and command network can close the chain.
Notable Point · 1:53:04-1:58:58
The fragile kill chain behind long-range antiship missiles
A missile's advertised range matters only when reconnaissance can detect, identify, track, update, and strike a moving ship before the targeting picture expires.