Cruise missiles are small, pilotless airplanes powered by turbofan engines that can precisely deliver bombs up to 1,000 miles away. They use various guidance systems like inertial navigation, terrain contour matching, and digital scene mapping to navigate to their targets. Inertial navigation uses accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure movement, while terrain contour matching compares onboard radar measurements to pre-recorded terrain maps to determine location. Cruise missiles offer advantages like low cost and small size, but also have disadvantages like lack of reusability and vulnerability to defenses. Their guidance systems require careful design for accurate target interception.