Talk:Wire-guided missile

I changed "with a length of up to 3,750 m" to "with a length (to date) of up to 3,750 m" although I am only assuming this is what the original author meant, and that this isn't a hard theoretical limit of some kind.

I also imagine its what the author meant. I think if we are having a claim like that in the article, we should say which missile has this range -- Cabalamat 15:57, 9 Oct 2003 (UTC)

Yes, that is a better formulation. I can not find now confirmation that a longer range does not exist yet, but concluded that earlier from what I found on Internet. - Patrick 18:16, 9 Oct 2003 (UTC)

I've seen specs for the British Swingfire that say it has a range of 4km or 5km (sources vary) -- Cabalamat 14:51, 11 Oct 2003 (UTC)

The British Army claim 4000m, so I've put it in. GraemeLeggett 17:45, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Change - removal

I reduced the entry for Hellfire and removed the Javelin missile totally as a single reference to developing alternatives to wire guidance should be sufficient, and discussion of these alternative belong under separate entries. GraemeLeggett 17:14, 8 Feb 2005 (UTC)

Historical Accuracy

Under the history heading this article states: "Wire guidance was first employed by the Germans during World War II. Most of their developments used radio control, but as the British proved to be able to jam anything they used", but on the page for the Henschel Hs 293B anti-shipping missile, it states that the "Hs 293B was wire guided to prevent jamming; it was never put into production, because jamming was never serious enough to prevent the radio-guided version from being effective". These statements are clearly contradictory, does any one know which is accurate? Somearemoreequal 17:15, 16 November 2006 (UTC)

Thin wires?

After reading this article, I still have no idea what a wire guided missile is. Are those wires connected to the weapon (i.e. they connect the missile directly to the firing apparatus and extend for the length of the missiles flight)? Or are they just like little antennae? If it's the former, how are they distinct from radio? This needs to be fixed. Michael.A.Anthony (talk) 01:35, 25 November 2007 (UTC)

They are indeed long, thin, presumably insulated fibre-optic cables that connect the weapon to the firing apparatus. There are a few photographs on the internet where you can see the wire trailing out behind the missile, e.g. this large photo from Defenselink. -Ashley Pomeroy (talk) 13:10, 21 March 2009 (UTC)

It looks like the article has been updated. Thanks very much for the information, and thanks to whoever did the update. Michael.A.Anthony (talk) 18:40, 6 April 2009 (UTC)

"Wire guidance" listed at Redirects for discussion

The redirect Wire guidance has been listed at redirects for discussion to determine whether its use and function meets the redirect guidelines. Readers of this page are welcome to comment on this redirect at Wikipedia:Redirects for discussion/Log/2023 June 21 § Wire guidance until a consensus is reached. -- Tamzin^{[cetacean needed]} (she|they|xe) 21:06, 21 June 2023 (UTC)

Requested move 28 December 2025

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: not moved. (closed by non-admin page mover) Thanks, 1isall (talk | contribs) . . (he/him) 14:25, 4 January 2026 (UTC)

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Wire-guided missile → Wire-guidance – alternatively wire control (vs radio control) or wire-guided munitions, as to broaden the spectrum and include wire-guided torpedoes and more ᛒᛚᚮᚴᚴᚼᛆᛁ ᛭ 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔠𝔨𝔥𝔞𝔧 11:59, 28 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose This is too much of a change in scope and would require major rewriting of the article, which is not guaranteed. If you wish to write a separate article about wire-guided munitions, do so and then suggest a merge after it is complete. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 14:36, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

  The article is really short and could easily be reworked. ᛒᛚᚮᚴᚴᚼᛆᛁ ᛭ 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔠𝔨𝔥𝔞𝔧 16:41, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

  The scope is still changing to a degree not usually done in move discussions. This way, if wire-guided missiles are independently notable on their own, this page can be recreated later. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 19:45, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

  Moves changes scope all the time. This is not an unconventional proposal. The whole idea is to expand the scope, as having separate articles for wire-guided munition, wire-guided torpedoes and wire-guided missiles is impractical. ᛒᛚᚮᚴᚴᚼᛆᛁ ᛭ 𝔅𝔩𝔬𝔠𝔨𝔥𝔞𝔧 22:40, 30 December 2025 (UTC)

  See WP:NOTPAPER. "Impractical" is not relevant when it comes to amount of pages on something. If they are all notable, perhaps they should all have pages. ᴢxᴄᴠʙɴᴍ (ᴛ) 01:02, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

• Oppose. Wire guided torpedoes, missiles, and other types of wire-guided munitions are very different functional classes of weapons whose only shared similarity is the nature of their guidance systems (which is tenuous at best -- a fiber-optic drone cable, a TOW missile wire, and a Mk. 48 ADCAP wire all operate completely differently and via different principles that directly affect their employment and usage.) Moreover, of these, wire-guidance is generally only ever specifically called out as a matter of practice on anti-tank guided missiles, as it's generally understood that modern torpedoes are optionally wire-guided and that fiber-optic usage on drones is largely from ad-hoc modifications that are still capable of radio guidance (and have only appeared since 2024, compared to the many decades of use for missiles). Merging the articles is unnecessary and contrary to how these systems are related.⇒SWATJester ^{Shoot Blues, Tell VileRat!} 02:38, 31 December 2025 (UTC)
• Oppose hyphenation. Wikipedia would ordinarily use a space in a noun form. —⁠ ⁠BarrelProof (talk) 05:09, 31 December 2025 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.