Sea skimming is a technique manyanti-ship missiles and some fighter or strike aircraft use to avoidradar andinfrared detection and to lower the probability of being shot down during their approach to the target.

Sea-skimming anti-ship missiles try to fly as low as is practically achievable, which is almost always below 50 meters (150 ft), and is often near 2 meters (6 ft). When under attack, a warship can detect sea-skimming missiles only after they appear over the horizon (about 28 to 46 km from the ship), allowing about 25 to 60 seconds of warning.^[1][2]

By flying low to the sea, missiles decrease the range at which the target ships can detect them by a significant amount. Flying at a lower altitude increases the amount of time the missile is under the horizon from the perspective of the target ship, making it harder to detect due toradar clutter from the sea and similar effects. The real-life success of sea skimming depends on its exact implementation, the sophistication of the detection equipment, as well as the infrared andradar signature of the missile. Sea skimming can significantly reduce the available response time that a ship'smissile defenses have to work within, making these missiles significantly harder to defend against. Sea skimming can also increase the range of a missile, by relying onground effects.

The use of sea skimming increases the risk of water impact by the missile before reaching the target due to weather conditions,rogue waves,software bugs and other factors. Sea skimming also hinderstarget acquisition, as many of the principles that hinder the target's detection of the missile also hinder the missile's detection of the target. Sea skimming involves a significant computational load, increasing the required processing power and cost.

Several systems are capable of defeating sea skimming weapons.^[3]

French-madeExocet missiles were used byArgentina in theFalklands War (including the mortal wounding ofHMSSheffield) and by Iraq againstUSSStark in the Persian Gulf during theIran–Iraq War. The Argentinian pilots of theSuper Étendard planes that attackedHMSSheffield were also skimming the sea at very low level. They increased their altitude only for a very short period to get final target information for the attack with their Agave radars. During the2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine, two Ukrainian-madeR-360 Neptune sea-skimming cruise missiles were claimed to have struck and sank theRussian cruiser Moskva.

• Lofting (Missile technique)