Video of person flying next to cruise missile has everyone asking the same question

A video showing a cruise missile flying in the sky has left some people online scratching their heads.

Unless you are connected to the military forces, or have a keen interest in modern weapons, there is a chance you don’t actually know much about cruise missiles.

Even though the age of the internet has allowed people to get a better understanding of how some weapons work, there is still a lot that doesn’t really make much sense for civilians.

A video circulating on social media has certainly ignited some questions from Reddit users.

The video, recently shared on the interestingasf*** board on the platform, shows a cruise missile flying at rapid speeds, seemingly recorded by an aircraft.

As the aircraft and the cruise missile are moving at similar speeds, it almost looks as if the rocket is standing still.

This odd sight left some people with a burning question - essentially, how do they even work?

“Maybe a dumb question but how does this extra fancy tube stay in air without wings? I get that it has propulsion from the end but that just pushes it horizontally. What keeps it up?” one user wrote.

Admittedly, it is a fair question, and one you might not have the answer to off the top of your head.

But before we answer that, it is important to outline what exactly is a cruise missile.

According to a report by the aptly-named howstuffworks: “A cruise missile is basically a small, pilotless airplane. Cruise missiles have an 8.5-foot wingspan, are powered by turbofan engines, and can fly 500 to 1,000 miles, depending on its configuration.

India has developed its first medium range cruise missile called Nirbhay or 'fearless', similar in effect to the American Tomahawk missile.(Pallava Bagla/Corbis via Getty Images)

“A cruise missile's job in life is to deliver a 1,000-pound (450-kg) high-explosive bomb to a precise location -- the target. The missile is destroyed when the bomb explodes.”

When it comes to how the missile stays up, cruise missiles tend to have a large enough wing to give it lift and it uses fuel in its propulsion at its end to glide to its target.

The wings are just about visible in the cruise missile video. The cruise missile is also likely to be an Indian Nirbhay cruise missile due to its design.

Cruise missiles prove particularly useful in warfare due to their ability fly low and avoid radar detection.

In addition to this, they are also effective due to the high level of accuracy due to the combination of GPS, inertial guidance, and terrain contour matching (TERCOM) for navigation.