Little education on cruise missiles.....they don't penetrate the way the damage was done!

Cruise Missiles have three basic attack modes*'


Coordinate Airburst: The missile goes off in mid air when it reaches its target coordinates. In other words, the target isn't a thing, it's a place * a point in space over a certain spot on the ground. This mode is ideal for deploying submunitions, gasses and large*area airburst nukes.


Coordinate Ground Impact: This is similar to coordinate airburst, except that the missile dives to hit the ground when it reaches its target coordinates. This is good for ground*impact nukes and area coverage for napalm, as well as hitting completely immobile targets at precisely*known coordinates.


Target Attack: In this mode the missile is assigned a specific target object, as well as target coordinates. When the missile arrives at the vicinity of the coordinates, it uses its sensors (imaging and radar, usually) to locate an object which matches its target profile, and then flies into the target object and sets off its warhead. If it fails to find the object within about a quarter*mile radius of the target coordinates, the missile reverts to coordinate ground impact mode.