How the Royal Navy could counter stand-off guidance

The video frames countermeasures as a contest with the controlling aircraft rather than only with the falling weapon. A five-kilometre guided attack requires visual identification, clear enough weather to see the target, and roughly 16-17 seconds of control after release. Those constraints largely exclude ordinary night attacks and prevent the aircraft from hiding continuously in cloud. Torpedo bombers would consequently retain an important night-strike role, although their attacks still depend on enough moonlight to find the target. A visible stand-off aircraft may remain within the reach of destroyer and capital-ship guns even when it avoids the closest light anti-aircraft envelope. Fighter interception, concentrated fire, and broad radio jamming can therefore break the guidance chain. This threat would also raise the value of genuine carrier fighters and electronic countermeasures relative to a compromise aircraft such as the Blackburn Skua.