All the recent interest in the Russian Kalibr forgets the West's much longer history of hitting insurgents and conventional armies with Tomahawk cruise missiles. Not only missiles but ground attack aircraft like the A-10 Warthog (below).
US Navy warships USS Philippine Sea and USS Arleigh Burke launch Tomahawk missiles on ISIS targets in Syria in 2014. USS Philippine Sea is a Flight II Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser and USS Arleigh Burke is the lead ship of the Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers.
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The Tomahawk is not alone. There is also the UK-European Storm Shadow, US AGM-86 and more advanced hypersonic missiles in the works.
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Interesting background on the Tomahawk cruise missile. It has been in service since 1983 and in wars since 1991 - decades before the Russian Kalibr. A cruise missile is guided using several systems, the major portion of whose flight path to its target (a land-based or sea-based target) is conducted at approximately constant velocity; that relies on the dynamic reaction of air for lift, and upon propulsion forces to balance drag.
Cruise missiles are designed to deliver a large warhead over long distances with high accuracy. Modern cruise missiles can travel at supersonic or high subsonic speeds, are self-navigating, and can fly on a non-ballistic, extremely low altitude trajectory.
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The A-10 "Warthog" is ugly but effective. In September 2014, the USAF A-10 strike wing revealed it would be deploying to the Middle East in the next month, which includes 12 of the unit's 21 A-10 aircraft. The timing coincided with the ongoing US airstrike campaign against ISIS. Since mid-November 2014, US commanders began sending A-10s to hit IS targets in central and northwestern Iraq on an almost daily basis.
